Man posing as Army Major arrested for duping youths in UP

Meerut (UP): A man was arrested for allegedly posing as an Army Major and duping youths on the false promise of recruiting them into the armed forces as Agniveers, officials said on Thursday.

Identified as Ganesh Bhatt, a resident of Panchkula in Haryana, the accused introduced himself to the people here as Major Dinesh Dahiya, Lalkurti police station in-charge Naresh Kumar said.

Bhatt led a group of 3 to 4 people who used to conduct meetings with defence aspirants and charge them around 5 lakh. He even wore an Army uniform to give a false impression to the youths, he added.

On receiving complaints about Bhatt, an Army Intelligence team here laid a trap to nab him and bust the gang. The team caught him in uniform on Wednesday night and handed him to the Meerut Police.

An Army uniform, some documents, fake Army identity and canteen cards have been recovered from the accused, the police said, adding that they also found Bhatt's pictures with Haryana Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala and several other MLAs on his phone.

The police have registered a case against him and are trying to identify those he has cheated, Kumar said.