Chaiwala Turned Fake IPS Duped More Than 50 People In Delhi's Mukherjee Nagar, Arrested

A tea seller from Gwalior has outwitted more than 50 people in a peculiar scam case - where he duped them by posing as a newly recruited Indian Police Service (IPS) officer. Gautam, alias Vikas Yadav, used to sell tea in the Mukherjee Nagar area, a hub for coaching centres and home to several civil services aspirants who come to Delhi from across the country.

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Accused is class eight dropout

The 30-year-old accused is a class eight dropout, but he reportedly managed to cheat women and civil services aspirants in the North Delhi area, IANS reported. As per reports, Vikas Gautam became obsessed with the IAS aspirants taking coaching from prominent institutes while running his business in the area.

The accused's obsession turned into a wicked idea and he assumed a new persona of Vikas Yadav. He created social media accounts to provide authenticity to his story and posed as a 2020 batch IPS officer (UP Cadre). If the reports are to be believed, he cheated over 50 persons of more than Rs 14 lakh.

Accused held on complaint by doctor

The police revealed that Vikas also used his forged identity to obtain work in various departments in exchange for monetary favours. According to Harendra K Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer), a woman doctor working at Sanjay Gandhi Hospital filed a complaint against Vikas on December 17.

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Following this, Delhi Police registered a complaint stating that one person with fake ID of IPS officer Vikas Yadav on Instagram and Facebook became friends with her. After solidifying his rapport, Vikas asked the woman to deposit Rs 25,000 by PhonePe, saying he needed the money for the treatment of his ailing mother - who was suffering from a life-threatening disease.

Police team conducted in-depth surveillance

DCP Singh told IANS that a police team was formed to nab the accused and they conducted in-depth electronic surveillance and analysis of CDRs of the mobile numbers of the suspect. Vikas was finally apprehended when the team located him in Gwalior and conducted raids.

"He first denied his involvement in any type of crime. However, on checking his mobile phone Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts in the name of IPS Vikas Yadav and Gmail ID 'ipsvikashyadav9@gmail.com'' were found logged in," said Singh.

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"After the UPSC results in 2020, Vikas changed his Instagram profile name to ''Vikashyadav_ips'' and posted the ''list of candidates selected'' on his Instagram profile, declaring his selection into UPSC," he added.

Accused came to Delhi in 2019

In 2019, Vikas came to Delhi and worked at a hotel in Mukherjee Nagar in front of Drishti Institute, a coaching institute for civil services aspirants and came in contact with many civil services candidates.

"He then came in contact with many high profile persons through that fake Instagram profile and presently has 19,700 followers on the fake Instagram ID. He then identified and contacted his victims pretending to be under trainee IPS and influenced them to get their work done and started taking money from them," Singh further said.

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