Lucknow: A 56-year-old man, who used to pose as a colonel to dupe aspiring soldiers, was held by a unit of the Special Task Force (STF) from Meerut’s Ganga Nagar after a tip-off from military intelligence two days ago. He was booked for “cheating, breach of trust and criminal intimidation” and sent to jail on Tuesday.
Satya Pal Singh Yadav, a resident of Ganga Nagar, had been a naik in the Army since 1985 and retired in 2003. Three years after retirement, his right leg got paralysed and he had been on medication ever since, police said.
Additional SP (STF) Brijesh Kumar Singh said, “Yadav used to work as a driver for a colonel. He owns a paint business, in which he invested the money got through his crime. He amassed close to Rs 6 crore over the past seven years by conning more than 50 aspirants.”
The ASP added: “A special unit nabbed him but his two aides — Devendra and Prashant (only first names available) — are still at large. Yadav formed a gang in 2016 and duped candidates by promising them recruitment. They even furnished them fake appointment letters. After several complaints and investigations, military intelligence gave a tip-off about his presence in Ganga Nagar to UP STF on Sunday.”
Yadav told cops that Devendra and Prashant used to produce forged appointment and joining letters and they used to SpeedPost them from various places. Police recovered a uniform, eight identity cards, five rubber stamps belonging to Army officers, five joining letters and 38 SpeedPost slips from him.
