Imposter in cop uniform: Run of con artist’s stalking, sexual exploitation ends with arrest

A Class 8 pass man sexually exploited and duped as many as 10 women constables of the UP Police in the past five years. He stalked them online and got familiar through social media platforms, posing as a police constable. Their details he got from the nominal roll available on UP Police website.
The accused recently landed in the police dragnet in Bareilly on Tuesday, when he sexually exploited a woman constable posted in Bareilly, duped ₹6.30 lakh from her as well, and purchased a four-wheeler worth ₹28 lakh with her documents.
Bareilly additional superintendent of police (ASP) City, Rahul Bhati, said that the accused was identified as Rajan Verma, 30, a resident of Sadar, Lakhimpur Kheri district. He said the accused was arrested for repeatedly raping the same woman, on the pretext of marriage, posing as a police constable. He said the Bareilly police constable had lodged an FIR for rape under sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Senior police officials said that the social media profile of the accused is full of his photographs in a police uniform worn by constables during their passing out parade, along with police vehicles, and other police personnel following him on the platforms, which convinced people easily that he was a cop.
They said he even got married to a woman constable by posing as a police constable posted in the office of additional director general (ADG) rank senior IPS officer in Lucknow.
They said the accused duped women constables and others on the pretext of transfers and postings through his links while being posted at the ADG office. Investigations revealed that the accused procured huge wealth and spent over ₹1.5 crore in gambling. They said the accused even had one high-end SUV, two more four-wheelers and a racing bike as well.
“The woman constable posted in Bareilly lodged an FIR of repeatedly raping her under IPC section 376 (2)N, and IPC sections 323 for voluntarily causing hurt, 420 for cheating, 467 for forging documents to claim ownership of any property, 468 for using forged documents for cheating, 471 for using forged documents as genuine as well as 504 and 506 for insulting and criminal intimidation respectively at City police station limits on July 13,” Bhati said.
Another police official privy to the case, said that Verma first came in contact with a police constable posted in the Special Operation Group (SOG) in Lakhimpur Kheri and he learnt all police tactics while spending time with him in 2019 and 2020. He said he even committed frauds and extortion by posing as a police constable at the behest of the SOG constable.
“He came in touch with a woman constable and married her, posing as constable, but separated after two years when she came to know about his reality. The husband-and-wife duo was also arrested by Lakhimpur Kheri police on November 15, 2022, in connection with an FIR lodged by another woman constable Gayatri Verma for defrauding her.
The estranged wife of the accused is living separately after getting bailed out of jail and still under suspension in the same matter. But he continued to commit fraud and stalk other women police constables, particularly those having Verma surname as they easily got convinced, thinking him to be of the same caste,” the official said, while explaining his modus-operandi.
He said Verma’s luxury run continued despite getting arrested twice in Moradabad on April 24, 2021, and Lakhimpur in 2022, as many of his victims did not turn up to register complaints to avoid humiliation. Still, as many as five criminal cases are lodged against him including two cases in Lakhimpur Kheri, one case each in Moradabad, Shravasti, and Bareilly. He said the recent case is of Bareilly in which he was arrested on Tuesday and sent to jail.