Hyderabad: Conman posing as reserve SI for 2 years, held

 Hyderabad: Ghatkesar police on Tuesday arrested a pseudo cop who posed himself as a reserve sub-inspector (RSI) and cheated several people including government officials for past two years.

The accused identified as S. Kusuma Prashanth, 26, a student and native of Mahbubabad Warangal district was arrested at the Yamannapet crossroads late on Monday night, police said.

Police sources disclosed that dressed in police uniform and posing himself as an RSI had cheated over 25 people, including six government officials.

During the past two years he collected huge amounts from the victims promising to settle their property issues or criminal cases. Surprisingly, he was also invited as a chief guest to the student’s council in Osmania University and other colleges a few months back.

A few weeks back, accused Prashanth dressed in police uniform approached Ghatkesar police to present a victim but the duty officer refused to take action.

The law and order inspector posted at Ghatkesar police station refused to entertain him and asked him about his batch number and posting before the accused left the police station, sources disclosed.

Suspecting his credentials, the inspector and superior officials started an investigation. Two days back a complainant, Kalakuntla Prasad, a car driver of Indira Nehru Nagar, Malkajgiri, lodged a complaint against Prashanth, who posed himself as a police officer and demanded money to settle a cheating case on him registered in Ghatkesar police station, police said.

The Ghatkesar police cross-checked his name and description, identified and traced the accused through his vehicle registration number collected from the CCTV footage while entering into the complainant's house.

“We cross-checked in the police stations in the twin cities and found the accused to be a pseudo cop and arrested him on Yamnampet X road on  Monday night,” M. Mahendar Reddy, Ghatkesar police inspector said.

During interrogation, the accused revealed that he had procured a Reserved Sub-Inspector (RSI) dress to impersonate public servants and cheat those aspiring for police jobs as a police officer on patrol duty.

He roamed around the police practice grounds with his old friends and cheated aspirants by claiming that he will help in their selections, Mahender Reddy said. “We are further probing into the case,” the inspector said.

“Under the supervision of Rachakonda police commissioner D.S. Chauhan, we investigated and nabbed the culprit,” the inspector said.

The police recovered an RSI uniform, a pair of shoes and khaki socks, two mobile phones and Rs 21,300 cash from his possession.

The police also registered cases in crime number 665/ of 2023 under Section 170, 406, 419, 420 of the IPC against the accused, produced him before the court on Tuesday. Later he was remanded to judicial custody.