Written by Shubham TiggaJanuary 4, 2026 03:59 PM IST 5 min readWhen questioned further, the man said he was not an IAS officer but an IPTAFS officer, a service he claimed was equivalent to the IAS. (Express Photo)To realise his dream of becoming an IAS officer and fulfil his father’s wish, a man who had appeared for the UPSC examination four times chose a path of lies for nearly seven years, posing as a senior civil servant, complete with a government nameplate on his car, fake identity cards, and carefully rehearsed answers about service history, the police in Jharkhand said.According to an official statement recorded by Hussainabad police station officer-in-charge Sonu Kumar Chaudhary, the matter came to light on January 2 when a man identifying himself as Rajesh Kumar, 35, walked into the police station in Palamu district and introduced himself as a 2014-batch Odisha -cadre IAS officer posted as a chief accounts officer in Bhubaneswar.Chaudhary said the man claimed he was on leave to attend to personal work at his native Kukhi village and had come to the police station to seek help in a land dispute involving one of his relatives in the Hussainabad area. He asked the officer-in-charge to look into the matter and assured that his relative would visit the police station the next day, referring to his name.During the interaction, Sonu Kumar Chaudhary said he followed protocol just as a police official does for an IAS officer. Later, he began to grow suspicious after the man spoke about having been posted in Dehradun, Hyderabad, and Bhubaneswar, despite claiming to be an Odisha-cadre officer.When questioned further, the man said he was not an IAS officer but an IPTAFS officer, a service he claimed was equivalent to the IAS.“This inconsistency raised serious doubt, as no serving officer would casually change or misstate their service during an official interaction,” Chaudhary said. Express PhotoAfter the visitor left the police station, Sonu Kumar Chaudhary informed his superior, the Hussainabad sub-divisional police officer (SDPO), of him. A verification conducted at the SDPO level revealed that no officer matching the name, batch, cadre, or service details provided by the man existed.Story continues below this adThe man was thus traced and brought to the police station from a nearby area, along with his Hyundai Aura car bearing a Jharkhand registration number. During sustained questioning, he admitted that he was neither an IAS officer nor a member of any allied service, the police said.Further inquiry through the Haidernagar police and local sources revealed that the man had been introducing himself as an IAS officer in and around his village and nearby areas for several years. He was found to be travelling in his car with a blue board fixed at the front with the inscription “Government of India, Department of Telecommunications” and had allegedly used this false identity to assert influence at police stations and government offices, according to the police.Success in UPSC preliminary examThe police said that during interrogation, the man disclosed that becoming an IAS officer had been both his father’s wish and his dream. He said he had gone to Delhi to prepare for the UPSC’s civil services examinations and appeared for them four times, clearing the preliminary exam once but failing to make it to the final list. Unable to face his father’s disappointment, he told his family that he had become an IAS officer and continued the deception over the years.During a search, the police came across an ID card that claimed Rajesh Kumar was a junior-grade chief accounts officer, along with a mobile phone number. They also found more documents in his car, including a Chanakya IAS Academy ID, a library card, and a blue government nameplate that was on the car.Story continues below this adHussainabad SDPO Mohammad Yaqub said such impersonation cases are not isolated. “There have been several similar cases in different places. Such persons often arouse suspicion during conversations. When questioned closely about their service, postings or cadre, their answers don’t add up,” he said.Yaqub added that in this case, it was the alertness of the officer who first interacted with the man that led to deeper questioning and verification. “When someone keeps changing their version about their service from IAS to another service, that itself is a red flag,” he said.The man was subsequently arrested and charged under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for impersonation, use of forged identity documents, and misleading public servants.Shubham Tigga is a Correspondent at The Indian Express, presently based in Pune, where he covers the intersections of infrastructure, labor, and the modern economy. His reporting focuses on civil aviation, urban mobility, the gig economy, and workers' unions, providing critical insights into how transit and commercial sectors impact the daily lives of citizens. Expertise & Background Before moving to Pune, he reported extensively from his home state of Chhattisgarh, where he focused on Indigenous (Adivasi) issues, environmental justice, and grassroots struggles in mainland India. This experience gives him a unique lens through which he analyzes the impact of large-scale infrastructure projects on local communities. Academic Foundation He is an alumnus of the prestigious Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), where he honed his skills in investigative reporting and ethical journalism. His academic training, combined with his field experience in Central India, allows him to navigate complex socio-economic landscapes with nuance and accuracy. You can reach out to him on LinkedIn ... Read MoreStay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd