Conman who impersonated IPS officer runs out of luck at toll plaza in Ujjain

A 46-year-old man who allegedly impersonated an IPS officer and influential political leaders of Madhya Pradesh, defrauded people and travelled in an expensive SUV was arrested in Ujjain, 190 kilometres west of Bhopal, on Sunday, said an officer of the special task force (STF) of Madhya Pradesh police.

The man who was identified as Jyotirmayi Vijayavargiya, a resident of Shalimar Township in Indore, had several mobile phone numbers. These numbers on different mobile phones were saved in different names including ‘IPS’, certain influential political leaders etc to convince people about his ‘credentials’. The person whom he called from any of these mobile phone numbers used to see his fake name on a particular App which is used to identify the names of unknown callers, said the officer.

Police said he acquired the SUV fraudulently a couple of years back. He gave a cheque of ₹14 lakh to the owner of the car to “buy” it but the cheque bounced. He is facing at least three criminal cases in Mumbai and Indore for committing fraud.

Superintendent of police, STF Geetesh Garg said, “We got information from a toll plaza employee in Ujjain that a man in a Fortuner car was not paying the required toll tax while introducing himself as IPS officer Vipin Maheshwari. On this, a team of STF was sent to the toll booth and detained the man to find that he was impersonating an IPS officer. During questioning we found that he had also cheated several people by telling that he was a relative of a BJP leader. He bought the car from one Rajiv Arya who is also from Indore for ₹14 lakh but the cheque he gave Arya bounced.”

The officer said more than 100 cheque books were seized from the residence of the accused. He was operating through the bank accounts of his servants also.

“An FIR under sections 170, 419 and 420 of IPC has been registered against him. We are trying to find out how many persons have been victims of this man”, said the officer.