Man held for posing as soldier, cheating youths with promise of defence jobs

The suspect, Pravin Shivaji Margaje, is a resident of Khandala taluka in Satara district. Investigators have recovered from him a fake Army uniform and paraphernalia, as well as forged credentials, including identity cards. They also recovered bank passbooks identifying him as an Army soldier, four cell phones, multiple SIM cards, and some documents that point to him having taken money from several people on the pretext of giving them defence jobs.

Three separate offences were registered against him in Satara district — one at the Dahiwadi Police station and two at Vaduj police station — on charges of cheating people. Investigators believe Margaje had amassed more than Rs 1 crore from such aspirants or their parents in Maan and Khatav talukas of Satara. The suspect is also known to have visited areas where military establishments are located and said to have made attempts to establish contact with serving personnel. He had been identifying himself as a soldier of Naik rank from the Ordnance Corps of the Indian Army, said officials.

Satara District Superintendent of Police Ajay Kumar Bansal said: “We appeal to the youth to come forward and report to us if they have been cheated by this person and his promises of defence jobs.”

Multiple cases of people posing as Army personnel have been unearthed by various police jurisdictions following inputs from Military Intelligence. In the Ahmednagar district alone, four such cases have been unearthed since 2018 in which imposters posing as Army officers or personnel have been arrested. In the context of the presence of several key defence establishments in Ahmednagar, such cases of impersonation pose a serious threat to security, officials said.

In a similar action in December last year, the Nashik police, following input from the Military Intelligence unit of Southern Command, had arrested a man posing as a Major who had taken money from job aspirants on the pretext of helping them get jobs in the defence services. Sleuths had recovered forged documents like character certificate, service certificate and even Form 16, a certificate of deduction of tax at source, identifying him as an Army officer, making use of fake seals and letterheads.

Preliminary probe suggested that he had even taken a loan from a bank in Nashik using fake credentials.

An officer said: “In all the cases of impersonation as Army personnel, the suspects have had the motive to cheat aspiring youth in addition to just taking advantage of status as Army officers. We have also observed that these suspects prefer to be present in areas surrounding military stations, where the movement of people in uniform is a common sight.”