Shahjahanpur: A 21-year-old who went around Shahjahanpur Cantonment in Uttar Pradesh, posing as an Indian Army brigadier, was finally nabbed by genuine soldiers on Friday.
The youth, identified as Aryan Verma, is now being interrogated by the Army about his true intentions.
Sources in the Army said that Verma would frequently be spotted moving around Shahjahanpur and neighbouring areas since April, sporting a brigadier’s uniform. His SUV also had military markings, a flag and star.
He had also hired two bouncers and would tell people they were from the National Security Guard (NSG), assigned for his protection by Army headquarters.
However, the problem was that he could not be nabbed. By the time the Army reached the spot, he would have left. It was no use picking him up without the uniform as he would have denied any involvement.
Finally, officers decided to lay a trap. They approached Verma as civilians and requested him to give a motivational lecture to aspirants for defence jobs ahead of their recruitment exams. The venue selected for the supposed event was Shaheed Memorial, located inside the Shahjahanpur Cantonment.
The youth agreed and turned up at the venue dressed as a Brigadier on Friday morning. He drove down in the SUV with military insignia, with the ‘NSG commandos’. By the time he realised that he had been tricked, the game was over for Verma.
Both Verma and his vehicle were thoroughly searched and several incriminating items seized. They included an identity card issued by the government that belonged to his driver, a forged identity card stamped by the Dean of the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), a regimental came and a dummy pistol.
A special team of Army Intelligence from Bareilly is now conducting the major part of the investigation and interrogating Verma to unravel the motive that led him to stage such an act. Investigators are trying to trace the sources from which he managed to obtain uniforms, seals, and other special insignias for the vehicle that he used, as reported by Zee News.
Saurabh Dixit, SP, Shahjahanpur, stated that the military authorities have already started interrogating the suspect. “Once the Army finishes with their formal inquiry and hands over the custody of the man to us, we will register an FIR and begin our own investigation,” he said.
Preliminary investigation has revealed that Verma is a Delhiite who came to Bareilly to prepare for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET). He had appeared for the examination on several occasions in the past, but had not managed to get through.
An official said that the accused belongs to a decent family and both his parents work for the government. While his father is a horticulture department officer, his mother is a schoolteacher.
