Crime Branch officials from Mira-Bhayandar-Vasai-Virar arrested a 33-year-old driver on Tuesday for allegedly impersonating an Income Tax Commissioner and defrauding unemployed people of over Rs 2 crore.
Police initiated an investigation after a man was cheated of Rs 15 lakhs. However, subsequent investigations revealed that the accused had similarly defrauded over 40 other unemployed individuals.
According to the police, the accused, Rinku Sharma, posed as an Income Tax Commissioner and also as an IRS officer. Police said in order to gain the trust of his targets, he would use a vehicle with a beacon, which also displayed the Income Tax Department’s logo.
Police said Sharma duped a person of Rs 15 lakh by promising to help him secure a job for his daughter as an Income Tax Inspector. The victim paid the money, following which the accused vanished. The complainant then approached Pelhar police in the second week of December, where a case of cheating and forgery was registered and an investigation to trace him was launched.
An officer added, “With the help of technical investigation and human intelligence, we discovered that the accused stays at Taloja in Navi Mumbai. We then set a trap around his housing society and apprehended him on Tuesday.”
Subsequently, the police team conducted a search of his house, where they found 28 different fake identity cards in his possession.
“The identity cards include those of an Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax, Income Tax Inspector, Assistant Commissioner of the Home Department, and the Central Bureau of Investigation,” an officer added.
Police further said that preliminary investigations revealed that the accused had cheated more than 40 unemployed people, defrauding them of Rs 2 crore by luring them with promises of jobs as Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax and Income Tax Inspector.
“We are trying to approach those who have been duped and record their statements, which will help strengthen our case,” said a police officer.