From MP to Bihar: How Fake IAS Officers Use Forged IDs to Con People

An Instagram reel filmed outside what appeared to be the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha helped police uncover an alleged fake IAS officer scam in Bhopal. The video showed three women claiming to be Indian Administrative Service officers. One said they had come to attend the assembly, while another joked that their behavior did not reveal their supposed status.

Police later found that the video had not been filmed outside the legislature. It was recorded in a gallery inside the Anthropological Museum complex. One of the women, Tripti Singh Rajput, was subsequently accused by the other two of asking them to act as IAS officers.

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We have come here to attend the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha. Since they don’t allow photography inside, we decided to film this outside.

According to the Indian Express report cited in the article, Rajput allegedly posed as an additional director in the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Department. She allegedly collected large sums from people by promising help with government jobs, tourism-property leases and access to officials. Police say she used fake government identity cards, letterheads, joining documents, trophies and a vehicle marked “Government of India” to make the deception more convincing.

Police arrested Rajput and her brother and identified suspected suppliers of the forged documents. Investigators are checking deleted files from a laptop, financial transactions and phone records as they look for possible accomplices. The case follows the arrest in Indore of 28-year-old Himanshu Panchal, who allegedly posed as an IAS officer, hosted 16 people at a five-star hotel and left without paying, saying his personal assistant would settle the bill. Police later found a fake nameplate at his rented home identifying him as “IAS Raj Soni, District Collector.”

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Looking at our antics, no one can tell we are IAS officers.