Con man poses as senior home ministry officials, dupes many of crores with ‘job offers’

Police said Singh was inspired by Bollywood film “Special 26”, in which tricksters pose as investigating officers and conduct raids to rob politicians and businessmen of their black money

A 28-year-old man, who could not clear the civil services exam despite attempting it twice, allegedly posed as an official from the home ministry and duped at least 70 people of crores of rupees after offering them jobs with the ministry, Faridabad police said on Wednesday, after arresting him from Ranchi in Bihar on Monday.

To make the job offers look credible, the suspect, identified as Shubham Singh (in blue jacket), used to meet all potential aspirants near the North and South Blocks in Lutyens’ Delhi. (HT Photo)

To make the job offers look credible, the suspect, identified as Shubham Singh, used to meet all potential aspirants near the North and South Blocks in Lutyens’ Delhi.

Police said Singh was inspired by Bollywood film “Special 26”, in which tricksters pose as investigating officers and conduct raids to rob politicians and businessmen of their black money.

After completing his schooling from Bihar, Singh took admission in a prominent Delhi college from where he completed his BCom, before attempting to clear the civil services exam.

Police said he created social media profiles posing as Yash Bansal.

Nitesh Aggarwal, deputy commissioner of police (NIT), Faridabad, said to fund his sundry expenses, he used to dupe people online and after college, Singh rented an apartment in Delhi’s Defence Colony and later moved to Greater Noida. “He always thought he was smart enough to mislead the police and kept changing his profiles on social media,” Aggarwal said.

Complainant Mohit Tomar (27), a resident of Ballabhgarh, said he came across the job listing online and called on the numbers mentioned. “The person who answered the call gave me a lot of details and shared emails from registered Union home ministry emails. Then he called me from the landline number mentioned on the ministry website. I was convinced that he was senior official from the ministry,” he said.

“He also held most of the meetings at Taj hotel and Constitution Club in Delhi and travelled by luxury cars.He had a gunman and others in tow at all times. We were impressed but to verify his credibility, we checked his social media profile and it was found to be correct. So we agreed to pay him for the job,” Tomar said.

Police said Tomar introduced his friends, relatives and family members to the suspect and requested him to help them all.

In all, 11 of them paid money in advance to Singh. The suspect sent them emails and conducted online tests and shared results, informing them that they had cleared the examination, said police.

Aggarwal said later he sent job confirmation emails and issued ID cards and asked them to deposit the remaining amount before joining. “The victims deposited the amount in different accounts and some also handed over cash to him after which he switched off his mobile number and disappeared,” he said. But Tomar realised something was fishy when he found the number switched off and sought police help.

A case under sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code was registered against Singh at the cyber police station Ballabhgarh on October 2.

Police formed a team and based on technical surveillance, he was traced to Ranchi.

Babu Ram, sub-inspector, cyber police station, Ballabhgarh, said Singh was arrested from his house. “He had returned from Varanasi where he had bought a godown of sanitary wares and land to build a house with the money he duped from people. He had several cars and led a lavish lifestyle,” he said.