Assam govt official hired mimics to impersonate CM, top bureaucrats: Police

An Assam government official allegedly hired mimicry artists to impersonate the CM and top bureaucrats to cheat businessmen in a jobs-and-contracts racket.

An Assam government official hired mimicry artists to imitate the voices of chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the state’s top bureaucrats to cheat over a hundred businessmen across states in a jobs-and-contracts racket, police said on Thursday.

Investigators suspect the racket had been operating for nearly a decade. (Representative photo)

Debeswar Bora, a 1999-batch Assam Civil Service (ACS) officer, currently serving as the district development commissioner (DDC) of Dhemaji, allegedly amassed crores of rupees by convincing targets he had a direct line to the state government leadership.

Bora was arrested from his official residence on September 7. Investigators suspect the racket had been operating for nearly a decade. During simultaneous raids at Bora’s office and residences in Dhemaji and Guwahati, the Vigilance Cell recovered nine mobile phones, 18 SIM cards and a cache of incriminating documents.

Police did not share details of the mimics who helped Bora commit the fraud, saying they were questioning him to find out more about them.

How Bora made it work

Bora first set up appointments with businessmen and then, to build trust, he would dial “senior officials” sitting directly in front of his victims. From the other end, a mimicry artist or a team member would reply, impersonating the CM, chief secretary Ravi Kota, or other cabinet ministers, promising lucrative government contracts, said police.

The probe uncovered the elaborate ruse after a local businessman, Ramen Borthakur, lodged a complaint in Dhemaji on May 30. Borthakur alleged that Bora demanded ₹10 lakh as earnest money to allot him a government project worth ₹2.5 crore.

Borthakur paid the money via an online transaction to an account suggested by the officer. The victims were convinced to deposit funds meant for Assam government projects into what were later revealed to be private business accounts based in Arunachal Pradesh, without raising immediate red flags.

The racket unravelled when Bora demanded an additional ₹40 lakh. Borthakur offered to pay via demand draft, but Bora insisted on an online transfer. A suspicious Borthakur abandoned the project and demanded a refund. When Bora refused, the businessman approached the police.

“After district-level investigation based on this first clue, we took up the case,” said Rosie Kalita, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Assam CID. She said that police traced the “government bank account” to KK Enterprise, an Arunachal Pradesh-based business group. A second account tied to another Arunachal firm, DB Enterprise, was also discovered.

“When we contacted the owners of these accounts, they claimed they were not even aware of the bank accounts, adding they had also paid Bora large amounts using the same process,” Kalita noted, confirming the recovery of a lengthy transaction ledger.

The transaction amounts ranged from ₹5 lakh to nearly a crore. While most depositors were from Assam, the list includes residents from other states. Police are now summoning the account owners for face-to-face cross-examinations with Bora to verify their claims.

Bora has been booked under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 120B (criminal conspiracy), 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 468, and 471 (forgery). Charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, have also been invoked. Since the offenses were committed well before the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) came into effect, the case was registered under the IPC.

Bora, who previously served as a joint secretary in the medical education and research department, was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Dhemaji and brought to Guwahati on transit remand. He is currently in four-day police custody.

Of the nine seized SIM cards, only one was registered in Bora’s name. The rest were procured through third parties to mask his operations. Call records for all 18 numbers are currently under forensic analysis, police said.

Kalita said that the scale of the fraud is still being assessed with the help of chartered accountants. “Impersonating a Chief Minister itself is a serious crime and highly dangerous for society,” she added.

She said that more victims are coming forward to share details with the police.

This high-profile arrest aligns with a state-wide crackdown launched by Assam police last week against fraudsters claiming proximity to ministers and top bureaucrats.

According to Sarma, nearly 380 alleged middlemen have been arrested so far, with numbers expected to rise.