Dismissed Army constable held for cheating, robbing, extorting defence personnel

New Delhi: A 35-year-old former Army constable was arrested Thursday for allegedly duping, robbing and extorting money from Army personnel, allegedly by posing as

New Delhi: A 35-year-old former Army constable was arrested Thursday for allegedly duping, robbing and extorting money from Army personnel, allegedly by posing as a serving Major or Captain, the police said. According to the police, three such cases were solved with his arrest while he was found to be allegedly involved in at least 12 cases.

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Police said the arrested man, Hemant Kumar, allegedly used to loiter around railways stations across the city looking for potential targets which were newly recruited Army personnel waiting for their train home or post. Police said Kumar allegedly used to befriend them and convince them to share a guest house room with him by narrating false stories such as boarding the same train as them or offering his assistance in getting official work done for them.

“Once convinced, Kumar would take the Army personnel to any of the guesthouses adjoining the railway station. He would engage the victim in conversation and manage to obtain his mobile phone number. He would steal the victim’s official identity card as well as other official documents and leave the guest house, citing some urgent work. Kumar would then call the victim and demand money in lieu of the ID card,” said the police.

Police said the victims would often succumb to Kumar’s alleged pressure tactics and cough up money which would range from ₹20,000 to ₹50,000, as they knew that they would face departmental action if they lost their official ID cards. As Kumar had served in the Indian Army as a constable for 12 years before being sacked, he knows about how the defence services work and used this knowledge to dupe his victims, the police said.

Deputy commissioner of police (special cell) Pramod Singh Kushwah said they had received input from Military Intelligence that the same person was involved in the recent spate of cases of Army personnel getting cheated and robbed at different railway stations in the national capital region.

“Our teams collected information about the suspect and identified him as Hemant Kumar alias Fauji. A trap was laid near the New Delhi Railway Station and Kumar was nabbed Thursday evening. A travel bag he was carrying had many stolen documents of Army personnel, such as their ID cards, health cards, driving licences and ATM cards,” said Kushwah.

Interrogation of Kumar, DCP Kushwah said, allegedly revealed he is from Hapur in Uttar Pradesh and had served in the Indian Army between 2001 and 2013. He had been court-martialed from the Indian Army after he was arrested for his alleged involvement in criminal activities about six years ago, the police added.

“However, Kumar continued his criminal activities after being dismissed from the service. He had been arrested in 2015 as well for executing similar instances of cheating, robbery and extortion, and was convicted in one of the three cases registered at the Old Delhi railway police station. Kumar continued with such cases even after coming out of jail,” added the DCP.

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