{
  "type": "article",
  "title": "Fugitive Couple Posing as Government Officers Nabbed in Sitapur for Rs 27 Lakh Fraud",
  "summary": "Police have arrested a husband-wife duo in Sitapur for duping locals of Rs 27 lakh with promises of cheap auctioned gold and currency exchange. Officers recovered Rs 14 lakh in cash along with forged identity cards.",
  "content": "A con couple who posed as high-ranking government officials to swindle innocent citizens has been arrested by the police in Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh. Operating under fabricated identities, the husband and wife cheated locals of approximately Rs 27 lakh by promising to deliver gold from government auctions at heavily discounted rates and offering currency exchange services for damaged banknotes. Investigations reveal that the duo had been running similar fraudulent operations across multiple states for nearly two decades.\n\nRented Accommodation Used as Front for Impersonation\nThe arrested individuals have been identified as Rohit Bajpai, a native of Kannauj, and his wife Annu Bajpai alias Chandra, originally from Chitwan in Nepal. The couple had recently rented a residential property in the Prem Nagar neighbourhood of Sitapur city. To establish social standing and gain the confidence of residents, they introduced themselves as established government officers, successfully misleading neighbors into believing their fabricated professional authority.\n\nLandlord and Local Residents Targeted for Lakhs\nSharing operational details, Sitapur Superintendent of Police Ankur Agarwal stated that the accused directed their primary scheme at their landlord, Ramnaresh Jaiswal. Enticing him with an offer to secure auction-route gold at steep discounts, they collected Rs 20 lakh from him alone. Additionally, they took Rs 2 lakh under the pretext of exchanging soiled or damaged currency notes, extracted Rs 1 lakh from another local resident, and took Rs 4 lakh from an area laundry operator, bringing the aggregate fraud amount to Rs 27 lakh.\n\nInterstate Flight Across Four States\nHaving gathered the funds, the couple disappeared from their rented residence on September 14. To evade tracking, they moved through several cities across state borders, taking refuge in Agra, Kota, Betul, and Chennai. Police findings indicate that out of the defrauded cash, the pair had already spent around Rs 6 lakh to purchase gold jewellery and two mobile handsets to conceal the illicit proceeds.\n\nSeizure of Cash, Gold, and Forged Credentials\nLaw enforcement authorities tracked down and apprehended the absconding couple on Wednesday. Police recovered Rs 14 lakh in hard cash, approximately 38.740 grams of gold ornaments, and four mobile phones from their possession. Officials also confiscated multiple counterfeit identification cards bearing names of Punjab National Bank, the Income Tax Department, Aadhaar, and PAN cards, which the accused routinely displayed to project legitimate bureaucratic authority.\n\nActive Fraud History Dating Back to 2005\nDuring interrogation and record verification, police uncovered that the duo had allegedly been involved in comparable financial frauds since 2005. Aside from cases in Uttar Pradesh, the couple faces active police cases across Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Bihar. Investigative teams are currently gathering comprehensive records on their broader interstate network and identifying additional victims connected to their schemes.\n\nWhat this means for you\nCitizens must exercise extreme caution whenever private individuals offer cheap gold from government auctions or informal currency exchange services outside banking channels.\n\n• Across India: Government agencies and commercial banks never dispatch individual officers to privately solicit cash for bullion auctions or note exchanges. Any individual soliciting personal funds while claiming bureaucratic influence should be verified immediately through authorized bank branches or reported to local law enforcement.\n• In Sitapur: Landlords and neighbourhood residents must prioritize complete tenant verification through local police stations before leasing property to prevent interstate suspects from establishing local fronts. Community members in residential areas like Prem Nagar should remain vigilant and avoid entertaining financial propositions from unverified tenants regardless of their perceived social status.\n\nWhy this happened\nThe fraudulent scheme succeeded through falsified credentials, fabricated bureaucratic influence, and tempting financial offers that bypassed standard scrutiny.\n\n• Impersonation of Authority: The suspects utilized forged Punjab National Bank and Income Tax Department identity cards to convince victims of their official standing and legitimacy.\n• Bait of Discounted Assets: Offering access to deeply discounted auction gold and informal currency replacement created an illusion of an exclusive financial opportunity for victims.\n• Interstate Modus Operandi: Operating continuously since 2005 across five different states allowed the couple to evade immediate detection by shifting locations whenever a local fraud was executed.\n\nQuestions & Answers\n\n1. How much money did the couple allegedly dupe from victims in Sitapur?\nThe accused couple allegedly defrauded local residents of approximately Rs 27 lakh.\n\n2. Who are the individuals arrested in this case?\nThe arrested individuals are Rohit Bajpai from Kannauj and his wife Annu Bajpai alias Chandra from Chitwan, Nepal.\n\n3. What excuses did the suspects use to take money from their landlord?\nThey took Rs 20 lakh from landlord Ramnaresh Jaiswal by promising cheap auctioned gold and another Rs 2 lakh for exchanging damaged currency notes.\n\n4. What items were seized by the police following the arrest?\nPolice recovered Rs 14 lakh in cash, roughly 38.740 grams of gold jewellery, four mobile phones, and counterfeit ID cards of PNB and the Income Tax Department.\n\n5. Which other states have active cases against the accused couple?\nAccording to police, the couple has been involved in fraud cases since 2005 across Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Bihar.",
  "url": "https://trendkia.com/en/uttar-pradesh/sitapur-men-sarakari-aphasara-banakara-27-lakha-ainthane-vala-pharara-dnpati-dhara-gaya-41343",
  "category": "Uttar Pradesh",
  "publishedAt": "2026-10-01",
  "tags": [
    "Sitapur Police",
    "Fraud Couple Arrested",
    "Fake Government Official",
    "Gold Auction Scam",
    "Uttar Pradesh Crime"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "site": "TrendKia"
}