Fake Army Officer Duped 4 Youths Of Rs 18 Lakh For Help In Recruitment, Accused Arrested By Ahmednagar Police On MI Input

Mubarak Ansari

Ahmednagar/Pune, 19th February 2021: A preliminary investigation by Ahmednagar district police has revealed that the accused who impersonated as an Army officer had taken Rs 18 lakh from four youths to help them get recruited in the Army. The accused was nabbed yesterday based on a tip-off from Military Intelligence (MI) of Army’s Southern Command.

Based on the complaint from one of the duped youths, an FIR has been registered at Rahuri police station against Navnath Savleram Guldagad (24), a resident of Agrewadi village in Rahuri taluka of Ahmednagar district. Guldagad married an engineer girl two years ago by impersonating as a para commando.

Tip-off

The MI sleuths had received information about Guldagad and surveillance was mounted on him. He had been wearing an Army uniform pretending to be officers of various ranks including Subedar, Captain and Colonel.

After gathering evidence and verifying the facts, the MI team tipped off Ahmednagar Superintendent of Police (SP) Manoj Patil yesterday. Accordingly, a joint team of MI and Local Crime Branch (LCB) comprising Inspector Anil Katke, API Ganesh Ingale, and police personnel Sandip Ghodke, Bhausaheb Kurund, Shankar Chaudhary, Ravi Sontakke, Deepak Shinde, Devendra Shelar, Meghraj Kolhe, Ranjit Jadhav, Rahul Solunke, Vinod Masalkar, swooped down in Mandwa village in Rahuri taluka yesterday evening and nabbed Guldagad from his relative’s house.

SP Manoj Patil said, “When asked where he was serving in the Army, the accused told our team that he is posted as a Lieutenant in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The Military Intelligence officials verified his details and found that he is not from the Army. When he was interrogated, he started giving vague answers.”

FIR Registered

The accused was taken to the Rahuri police station and a case was registered for offences under sections 420 (cheating), 170 (impersonating a public servant) and 171 (wearing garb or carrying token used by public servant with fraudulent intent) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

“The accused told us during questioning that he donned Army uniforms to impress youths and their parents that he was a serving officer. After gaining their trust he would take money under the pretext of helping them with recruitment in the Army. He used to change his phone numbers and Army uniforms to dodge the victims”, Patil said.

Police have seized Army uniforms, nameplates and ribbons, applications from various people for jobs, appointment (joining) letter, Aadhaar card, PAN card and other forged documents from the accused.

How did the complainant meet the accused?

The complainant in the case told police that the accused had taken Rs eight lakhs from him and Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3.5 lakh from each of three other candidates.

“In 2019, I used to practice running. During that year in November, Guldagad pretended to be a Colonel rank officer in the Army and told me that he can help me in Army recruitment. I paid him Rs 1.5 lakh at a tea stall opposite Wambori gram panchayat office. He took more money promising to get me recruited. Then, he started blackmailing with arrest in a recruitment scam and took Rs 2.5 lakh more. I paid him a total of Rs eight lakh but did not get recruited. Like me, other youths had also paid him various amounts”, the complainant told police.

SP Patil added, “Further investigation is being carried out by Rahuri police station. If anyone has been cheated by the accused, they can approach the nearest police station.”

Unauthorised use of Army uniform dangerous

Patil added, “Ahmednagar district and adjoining Pune district is a very important and sensitive place from the point of view of the army.

The possibility of unauthorised persons entering the restricted area of the concerned military department cannot be ruled out, as uniforms are being misused.”

Further investigation is being carried out under the guidance of SP Manoj Patil, Additional SP Saurabh Kumar Agrawal, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (Shrirampur Division) Sandeep Mitke.