Just a few weeks ago, a man from Delhi was arrested for illegally running a fake embassy. Now, in a similar manner, the Uttar Pradesh Police have managed to nab a man named Saurabh Tripathi for impersonating an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer. During his arrest and seizure of his assets, a Mercedes Benz, a Land Rover Defender, a Toyota Fortuner, and other cars, along with many fake documents, were seized by the authorities.
As mentioned above, the name of the man arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police from Lucknow is Saurabh Tripathi. He was caught during a routine vehicle check where his suspicious behaviour and fake credentials made the police officers investigate him. During this stop, he tried threatening the officers by naming his connections up to the Chief Minister’s office.
During the interrogation and investigation carried out by the Uttar Pradesh Police, it was found that Tripathi portrayed himself as a senior bureaucrat, specifically an IAS officer. He even claimed to be the cabinet secretary. Tripathi, in order to make his disguise more believable, also managed multiple social media profiles.
The fake IAS would post images of himself with governors and chief ministers to reinforce his image as an IAS officer. Presently, it is being investigated whether these images of Tripathi with politicians are real or have been digitally altered by him. What is even more shocking is that this man would attend government functions and meetings as a VIP guest and also deliver speeches.
As per the reports, after the investigation commenced, the police authorities reached his residence, during which they found that he had a Land Rover Defender with registration number “0028” and a Mercedes Benz C-Class with registration number “2800”. This man also owns a Toyota Fortuner Legender and three Innova Crystas, all of which have been seized by the authorities.
To make these vehicles look legitimate in front of police officers, he used red and blue beacon lights to simulate official status. Tripathi has also been accused of forging registration number plates and fake secretariat passes. One of the vehicles seized from Tripathi also had a plaque falsely claiming that the vehicle belonged to the Joint Secretary.
In addition to these fake documents, the police also seized forged Aadhar cards and driving licences, multiple debit cards, and visiting cards with high-ranking designations. Twenty-five fake documents were taken from Tripathi's residence, which also included fake IDs and passes for restricted areas like the state secretariat. Additionally, his laptop was taken by the authorities for further investigation.
Saurabh Tripathi is an engineer who completed his BTech in Computer Science. He initially formed an NGO, which gave him access to senior officials and high-profile events. Tripathi then closely observed the behaviour and mannerisms of bureaucrats and started impersonating an IAS officer for personal gain.
With this experience, he started promising people that he would help them get their work done and even took money from them. A total of six people have come forward and told the police that they were promised favours in exchange for money. As for Tripathi’s real job, he was a project manager at ABM Knowledgeware Ltd, working on accounting software for the UP Directorate of Local Bodies.