Delhi: Fake IAS officers arrested in Rs 2 crore tender scam; police seize uniforms worth Rs 1.5 crore

NEW DELHI: Three individuals have been arrested for allegedly defrauding vendors by impersonating IAS officers and offering fake tenders under the name of the Rashtriya Gramin Saksharta Mission (RGSM), a scheme they falsely presented as a central government initiative. The accused—Ratnakar (40), Anita Upadhyay (35), and Saurabh Singh (30)—were involved in creating a trust and website that mimicked a government scheme, publishing fake tenders, and using forged letterheads claiming RGSM to be “a Government of India undertaking,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (Economic Offences Wing) Amrutha Guguloth. They gained the confidence of vendors by posing as IAS officers and executed agreements for supplying uniforms meant for underprivileged schoolchildren.

However, after obtaining the supplies, the accused failed to make payments and coerced vendors into paying large sums as commission, earnest money, and stamp duty.

One complainant alone was duped of uniforms worth several crores and induced to pay about Rs 2 crore as commission for tender allotment, police said. The case came to light when a man filed a complaint alleging he was made to register as a supplier under the fake scheme and was cheated of Rs 1.5 crore.

Following the complaint, a case was registered. Ratnakar and Anita were arrested in July, while Saurabh, an office bearer of the fake trust who was on the run, was apprehended from Lucknow on September 15 after sustained surveillance and raids in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Police recovered approximately 45,000 uniforms valued at Rs 1.5 crore, Rs 2.79 lakh in cash, a gold chain, a gold ring, and a car purchased with the proceeds of the crime.

Additionally, two flats acquired by the accused have been identified for attachment. Ratnakar has a long criminal history, including over 10 cases involving cheating, forgery, and rape in Uttar Pradesh. Anita, the head of the trust, was an authorized signatory of the RGSM accounts and a beneficiary of the siphoned funds. Saurabh faces two cases in Ayodhya under the Gangsters Act and for forgery, police added. Six cases have already been registered against the trio in Delhi, with similar cases pending in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh.(With inputs from agency)