The police on Wednesday arrested a man who was allegedly pretending to be a sub-inspector and recovered a police uniform, cap and shoes from his possession. Police said the suspect, Rajesh Tripathi, 45, a resident of Kanpur, was allegedly trying to pressurise a person in a dispute at a local shop in Badalpur by pretending to be from the police. He had shifted to Badalpur two weeks ago and has been living in a rented accommodation. He lived in Ghaziabad before that for a year, the police added.
Dharmendra Sharma, in-charge Badalpur police station, said that two persons had clashed over some issues near Dharam Kanta in Badalpur on Wednesday. “One of the two persons was known to Tripathi, who reached the spot on a two-wheeler and introduced himself as the station house officer (SHO) of Gulawathi police station in Bulandshahr. He was in plain clothes and locals suspected his claims,” he said.
The opposite party, meanwhile, informed the Greater Noida police and a team from the Badalpur police station reached the spot. “Tripathi claimed that he is a police sub-inspector posted in Bulandshahr. We checked with the Bulandshahr police and found his claim to be false. We asked the suspect to produce his police identification card, which also turned out to be counterfeit,” he said.
The police team then scanned the suspect’s two-wheeler and found a police uniform and a cap under the seat. “The suspect later admitted that he had faked his identity. He revealed that he used to pretend to be a police officer to get undue advantage. He used to visit different places to intervene in disputes as a police officer and then extorted money from people,” Sharma said.
A case was registered against him under Section 420 (cheating), Section 467 (forgery), and Section 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) of the IPC. “The suspect was produced in court and sent to jail,” Sharma said.
