Lucknow: A woman who allegedly posed as an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer when she got married and later allegedly blackmailed and threatened her husband has been arrested by the UP Police.
The accused, identified as Sadhana, was arrested Monday from Budaun district, produced before a court Tuesday and remanded to judicial custody.
The case came to light a fortnight ago when Abhishek Kumar, 28, a resident of Pachomi village in Bareilly’s Faridpur area, filed a police complaint against his wife and her family. He alleged that Sadhana had falsely claimed to be an IAS officer awaiting her official posting and used forged documents and fake social media posts to convince him and his family. An FIR was lodged on the basis of this complaint.
According to the complaint, Abhishek and Sadhana came in contact through Facebook. As their friendship grew, Sadhana allegedly told Abhishek that she had cleared the UPSC civil services exam, but her appointment had been delayed due to a court case. She also allegedly assured him that once she joined the service, she would help him secure a government job.
Abhishek’s family agreed to the marriage. However, around 1.5 years after their wedding, the couple started having problems. Abhishek told the police that he became suspicious of Sadhana’s claims of being an IAS officer, and she had started blackmailing and threatening him by claiming that she has big connections and can send anyone to jail.
According to Faridpur Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sandeep Singh, Abhishek later visited the Budaun court to verify the case Sadhana had referred to. There, he found that the pending case pertained to Sadhana allegedly posing as an IAS officer in Budaun to dupe people.
DSP Singh told ThePrint: “Sadhana told Abhishek she would soon get her posting and would also help him get a government job. Influenced by these claims, Abhishek’s family arranged their marriage.”
He further said that after the marriage, Sadhana allegedly demanded Rs 40 lakh from her husband and threatened to kill him if he did not meet her demands.
Threatened in-laws family by fake calls
The complaint further alleges that Sadhana threatened Abhishek’s parents and siblings as well, and sometimes asked some of her male friends to threaten her in-laws over call posing as her colleagues.
Police also found that Sadhana had allegedly shared fake appreciation certificates, forged documents and misleading photographs on social media to project herself as an IAS officer.
DSP Singh said that after she got to know about her husband’s FIR, Sadhana allegedly took all the jewellery from their home and absconded. Through technical surveillance and local inputs, police traced her to Budaun and arrested her on Monday.
Police claimed that during interrogation, Sadhana admitted that she had impersonated an IAS officer to gain Abhishek’s trust and later extort money from him.
Sadhana has been booked under charges including cheating, criminal intimidation and blackmail. Further investigation is underway to determine whether she used the same modus operandi to deceive others. According to the police, now more complaints have been coming in against her.
Sadhana is a resident of Sateti village in Badaun district. She is a graduate of Rohilkhand University. Police said that even before her marriage, she had been named in a money extortion case in Badaun. The case is still going on in Badaun court. Investigators are now verifying whether she was involved in any other criminal activities.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)