Defender, Mercedes, Fortuner: Fake IAS Officer Used Many Luxury Cars In Lucknow

Range Rover Defender, Mercedes-Benz, and Toyota Fortuner are among the super luxury cars, besides three Innovas, seized recently from a man pretending to be an IAS officer. The accused, who identified himself as Saurabh Tripathi, was arrested following a run-in with police officials during a vehicle check in Uttar Pradesh's capital Lucknow.

During interrogation, He said that the luxury vehicles in his convoy helped him maintain a powerful image. The cars were equipped with blue beacons to trick the people into believing that he was a senior officer. Documents related to the vehicles have also been found to be fake. Besides, fake passes, including one for entry into the state secretariat, and other items like blue beacons, have been seized.

Kamlesh Dikshit, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Crime, said it is being probed how he arranged so many cars. The beacons, laptops, and mobiles recovered from him, besides his bank accounts and the transactions, are being examined, he said.

Tripathi's disguise went unnoticed even at meetings with senior officials. Posing as an IAS officer, he attended government programs and even held meetings with senior officers of various departments. He has also admitted to influencing and pressuring officers at these meetings. Though he raised doubts at times, he was never pulled up.

He also ran an X profile with the username @Saurabh_IAAS. He has also confessed to what led him to take up his appearance.

The accused told the police that after completing BTech in Computer Science, he had formed an NGO that required him to meet many senior officials and leaders. During these meetings, he observed their mannerism and behaviour and gradually started pretending to be an IAS officer. Once he understood how the system worked, he started taking advantage of his fake role.

He managed to do all these without being caught. But he ran out of luck when he was stopped during a vehicle check in Lucknow recently. He tried to flaunt his fake 'IAS' tag in front of the police officials and threatened to complain to the Chief Minister. His claims raised suspicion, and the accused was taken to the police station, where his lies were exposed.