PUNE: A 27-year-old man has been arrested by the Pune police crime branch for posing as an income tax officer, and duping multiple people. While he is involved in three cases, he is suspected to have duped at least 10 others in various parts of the country.
The man has been identified as Rahul Kiran Sarate (27), a resident of Siddharth Colony in Chembur, according to police. The man is in the custody of the crime branch until Friday, according to police.
“He was found to have told people about him being an income tax officer and accepted money through Google Pay and cheated multiple people. At times, he had also mimicked the voice of a female GST officer and cheated people,” read a statement from the Pune police crime branch.
He was arrested under Sections 385 (extortion by putting any person in fear of injury); 419 (impersonation); and 170 (impersonating a public servant) of the Indian Penal Code, registered at Hadapsar police station.
A complaint in the matter was lodged by a jeweller in Hadapsar area who claimed to have received a call from an unknown number. The caller identified himself as income tax officer Rajendra Kadam.
Sarate then told the jeweller that he had received a complaint from a female customer that the gold jewellery she had bought was of lesser quality than was promised to her, according to the complainant.
{{/usCountry}}Sarate then told the jeweller that he had received a complaint from a female customer that the gold jewellery she had bought was of lesser quality than was promised to her, according to the complainant.
{{/usCountry}}In order to prevent the shop from being sealed, the man demanded ₹37,200.
Upon his arrest, two other cases were brought to light - one each in Andheri police station of Mumbai and Bengaluru city police station. Both the cases were registered in the past few months.