Imposter involved in Army recruitment related touting arrested from Varanasi

LUCKNOW: Based on specific input of "Military Intelligence"(MI) on Friday, Special Task Force (STF), UP Police arrested a 22-year-old youth, Ravi Yadav alias Ravi Kumar alias Om Yadav from Varanasi for impersonating as a serving soldier, producing fake documents and fraudulently receiving money from aspiring soldiers by promising them selection in Army recruitment rallies in/around Varanasi.
In the month of July/August an MI team received inputs that an individual claiming to be a serving Army personnel posted in 39 GTC, Varanasi and using multiple pseudo names like ‘Ravi Kumar’ & ‘Om Yadav’ is assuring aspirant soldiers sure selection in Army recruitment rallies in/around Varanasi on payment of Rs 5 lakh each.
The MI team could find out certain aspirants the suspect had cheated in past and manage to gather vital details from them. It was found that the suspect has cheated more than 40 such aspirants and taken money from them. He used to win their trust by flaunting his photos in Army uniforms and even by appearing in Army uniform before them in some occasions. The suspect was also found to have provided fake ‘Admit Cards’ and ‘Joining Letters’ to such aspirants to trap them further. He used to prefer taking money in cash and on some occasions he was found receiving money through bank accounts of others. It was also learnt that he is changing his mobile numbers frequently and has even used a Nepal based mobile number. Further it was found that he had never shared his actual identity or address with the victims or with their relatives.
Based on their revelation and photos/documents shared, further leads on the suspect were developed. The MI team carried out discrete physical surveillance at various places where the suspect was reportedly seen. Finally in the month of September the suspect was identified as Ravi Yadav who stays with his parents in a one-room outhouse inside the campus of Basant Intermediate College, Rajghat, Varanasi. Suspect’s father, Shankar Yadav was found to be working as a gardener in the educational istitute.
The input was shared with STF, UP Police, and the STF team at Varanasi was tasked to take the case to logical conclusion. A joint team of MI and STF (Varanasi) was formed and an action plan was finalised. The joint team mounted continuous physical surveillance in/around around the Basant Intermediate College to make all small parties recognise the suspect and to study his daily activities. In the meanwhile, an FIR No-1254/2019 was lodged by some victims at Cantonment Police Station against the suspect on 26th September under IPC section 420 (cheating & dishonesty), 406 (Punishment for Criminal Breach of Trust) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation).
Finally, acting on a pre-decided plan, the joint team arrested the suspect, Ravi Yadav on in the morning and carried out a search of his belongings. Three rubber stamps, Army uniforms and badges were recovered from the possession of the suspect along with his mobile phone.
During subsequent questioning, the suspect accepted to have impersonated as a serving Army soldier, procured unauthorised rubber stamps in names of Army establishments, produced fake army recruitment documents (‘Admit Cards’ & ‘Joining Letters’), cheated around 40-50 young soldier aspirants, taken money (ranging between Rs 5,000 and Rs 60,000) from each of them. He even accepted to have taken help of others in trapping the victims and for receiving money on their bank accounts. It was also learnt that the suspect was earlier caught for similar crime in Assam and has served a six month long sentence in Assam jail in 2017.
Further investigations to ascertain involvement of others in the case are under progress. The suspect will be produced before the court subsequently.