From UPSC Aspirant to Fake IAS: How Jharkhand Man Lived as Top Civil Servant for Nearly a Decade

Jharkhand: A 35-year-old junior-grade chief accounts officer was arrested in Jharkhand’s Hussainabad for posing as a top civil servant for nearly seven years. On further investigation, it was revealed

that he had aspired to become an IAS officer and assumed the false identity upon failing to clear the UPSC civil services examinations in four attempts.How the IAS Scam Transpired in JharkhandOn Friday, January 2, the accused, identified as Rajesh Kumar, walked into the police station in Jharkhand’s Palamu district and introduced himself as a 2014-batch Odisha-cadre IAS officer posted as a chief accounts officer (CAO) in Bhubaneswar, reported The Indian Express.His statement was recorded by the officer-in-charge at the Hussainabad police station, Sonu Kumar Chaudhary, who revealed that during their conversation, the accused mentioned that he had been posted in various states, including Dehradun, Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar, and claimed he was currently on leave to tend to personal matters at his native village, Kukhi, NDTV reported.

Kumar had visited the station to seek police assistance in a land dispute involving his relative in Hussainabad and asked the officer-in-charge to look into the issue.He informed Chaudhary that his relative would be visiting the police station the following day in relation to the dispute and would be using his name as a reference.How Police Caught the IAS FraudChaudhary, who instantly initiated protocols followed by the police for IAS officers, grew suspicious of Kumar’s background. He had declared he was an Odisha-cadre officer, yet his claims of transfers went against the IAS (Cadre) Rules.When questioned further about his designation, the man retracted his claims of being an IAS officer and instead claimed that he was an officer of the Indian Posts and Telecommunications Accounts and Finance Service (IPTAS).Unconvinced by his assertions, Chaudhary initiated a preliminary investigation into Kumar’s identity under his superior, the Hussainabad sub-divisional police officer (SDPO), after he left the police station.“This inconsistency raised serious doubt, as no serving officer would casually change or misstate their service during an official interaction,” Chaudhary said.

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A verification conducted at the SDPO level confirmed that Kumar’s identity had been a fabrication, and no officer matching the name, batch, cadre, or service details provided by him existed.The accused was then traced and brought to the police station along with his vehicle, a Hyundai Aura car that bore a blue government nameplate with a Jharkhand registration number. Who is Rajesh Kumar?During questioning, Kumar confessed that he was neither an IAS officer nor an employee of any allied service. An identity card found by the police revealed that Rajesh Kumar was actually a junior-grade chief accounts officer.Becoming an IAS officer had been an aspiration for both him and his father. For that purpose, he had prepared for the UPSC Civil Services Examinations in Delhi and appeared for them four times. Despite clearing the preliminary exams, he failed to make the final list all four times and assumed the false identity of an officer to avoid his father’s disappointment.His deception extended from his family to his village and nearby areas for several years, an enquiry conducted by the Haidernagar police revealed. He introduced himself as an IAS officer and travelled in a car with a blue board fixed at the front with the inscription “Government of India, Department of Telecommunications.”Kumar’s visit to the police station was not his first attempt at using the false identity to reap the benefits reserved for civil servants. He had previously used his assumed identity to assert influence at police stations and government offices, police officials revealed.The police, in the course of their investigation, found several documents in Kumar’s car, including the ID card, his mobile phone number, a Chanakya IAS Academy ID, a library card, and the blue government nameplate that was on his car.