‘IPS officer’ arrested after con man rebukes Delhi cops at checkpoint

The Delhi Police on Wednesday arrested a 34-year-old man on charges of posing as an IPS officer. The man allegedly used a red and blue beacon light on his vehicle and had also pasted the logo of the Delhi Police on his car to support his claim.

Police said the man was arrested around 10.30 pm after he stopped his vehicle at a police picket in west Delhi, rebuked the officers on duty there and claimed to be an officer of the Indian Police Service (IPS).

The police said the Hyundai Accent sedan he was driving was fitted with a beacon light. The policemen at the picket in west Delhi’s Hari Nagar thought their boss — the area’s assistant commissioner of police — had come. An officer said the man stepped out and introduced himself as an IPS officer but the personnel doubted his claims.

When the policemen at the picket asked him for his identity card, the man changed his statement and said his father was an IPS officer. He broke down when the officers further questioned him and said his name was Divay Malhotra, a cyber cafe owner. Malhotra told the police that he posed as a police officer to impress his friends and relatives.

Deputy commissioner of police(west) Monika Bhardwaj said, “The man pretended to give directions on a wireless communication system which he was carrying in his car. However, the policemen noticed that he was not well aware of the area’s policing arrangements. On inquiry, he initially told them that he is an IPS officer and started rebuking the policemen. As their suspicion grew, they asked him to show his ID card,” Bhardwaj said.

The DCP said the man got furious and started threatening the policemen of departmental action. “He then said his father is an assistant commissioner of police. However, when the policemen questioned him further, he revealed that he lives in Meenakshi Garden and runs a cyber café. One other beacon light was recovered from his car,” the officer said.

Bhardwaj said Malhotra allegedly told the police that he has studied only up to class 12 and that both his parents are doctors. “He said his mother retired as a doctor from Lady Hardinge Hospital and is presently teaching in a private university, while his father runs a private clinic,” the DCP said.