Saran: A shocking incident has come to light in Chhapra, Bihar, where a young man entered the district collectorate pretending to be an IAS officer and even managed to meet senior officials. The accused has been identified as Ritesh Kumar Pandit, a resident of Basadhi village in Chhapra district. He was arrested after the district magistrate became suspicious and reported the matter to the police. A case of fraud and impersonation has been registered, and further investigation is underway.
The incident happened on Monday around 3pm, when Ritesh Kumar Pandit walked into the Chhapra collectorate. He confidently told the staff that he was an IAS officer posted in Uttar Pradesh and that he needed to meet District Magistrate Vaibhav Srivastava for urgent work. Impressed by his smart dressing and confident way of speaking, the staff allowed him to go inside the DM’s office without any verification.
Inside the office, Ritesh introduced himself as a 2022 batch IAS officer and claimed that he was the municipal commissioner of Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh. He spoke with the DM for nearly 20 minutes. During the conversation, the DM noticed that the young man’s knowledge and way of talking did not match that of a real officer. When asked to show his official identity card or any government documents, Ritesh became nervous and failed to answer properly.
After strict questioning, Ritesh admitted that he was not an IAS officer and was not working in any government department. He told police that he lives in Mukherjee Nagar, Delhi, and is preparing for the UPSC and BPSC examinations. He confessed that he used to pretend to be an IAS officer to impress people, enter government offices easily and collect money by promising to solve their problems.
Police also revealed that Ritesh had earlier met the Chhapra SSP Vineet Kumar and even the former district magistrate and superintendent of police. He had visited the collectorate twice before, about six months ago. Sadar ASP Rampukar Singh said that the district magistrate’s alertness helped expose the fake identity in time. The accused has been sent to jail, and police are now investigating how many people he may have cheated.
