Man Posing As IAS Officer Who Drove In Beacon-Fitted Cars And Hired Gunmen, Arrested

A man posing as an IAS officer for the past six months has been arrested in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur, police said.

In a press conference on Thursday, police said the accused, Lalit Kishor, a resident of Bihar’s Sitamarhi, used to pose as IAS officer ‘Gaurav Kumar’. He was arrested on Wednesday.

PTI quoted the police saying Kishor had allegedly created a full-fledged racket involving fake inspections, promises of tenders and jobs, and large-scale extortion.

Besides Kishor, his brother-in-law Abhishek Kumar and aide Parmanand Gupta have also been arrested, police said.

The fraud was exposed after an anonymous complaint was filed revealing that Kishor was living in a rented house in Chiluatal and running an office in Jhungiya Bazar.

He used to move

around in beacon-fitted vehicles, displayed forged government nameplates, and even hired 10 gunmen at Rs 30,000 a month each, complete with a stenographer who he paid Rs 60,000, police said.

They further said several forged IDs, laptops, jewellery, cash, and many AI-generated photos wherein Kishor had replaced real officials’ faces with his own were seized after his arrest.

They said Kishor used to allegedly conduct fake “inspections” at private schools and extorted large sums from their operators. In one such instance, he had reportedly demanded up to Rs 55 lakh from a school in Bhatat.

According to police, Kishor had targeted people across UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, and MP.

One complainant from Patna claimed he paid over Rs 1.70 crore and two vehicles for tenders.

“Fake IAS officer Lalit Kishor and his two associates have been arrested and sent to jail… anyone who has been duped is urged to approach the police office and file a complaint,” Additional SP, City Abhinav Tyagi said.