A 69-year-old man's attempt to impersonate a retired IPS officer to intervene in an investigation against his businessman friend opened a can of worms that revealed how the elderly man was using fake credentials to con government officers, get key work done and make huge sums of money.

Anil Katyal, a resident of Delhi's posh Greater Kailash-1 locality, claimed that he was a retired IPS officer (1979 batch) of Manipur cadre and has served in key positions such as Director General of Police, an Intelligence Bureau officer and an advisor to the Union Home Ministry. Wherever he could travel, he would mislead junior police officers and get them to do his bidding. Sometimes, he would also introduce himself as a collegemate of External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and the list of his cons extends from Delhi-NCR to as far as Dubai.

Who Is Anil Katyal

According to police, Anil Katyal is an alumnus of the prestigious St Stephen's College where he studied chemistry. He then appeared for UPSC, but failed to crack it. He went to the US' Yale University to for a doctorate but dropped out. He worked as a senior executive in Hindustan Lever, Yamaha and then Vodafone, police said. Katyal retired as a vice-president of corporate affairs from Vodafone. He lives in a bungalow in Delhi's posh GK-1 locality. A big question that the police face is why a person with good financial standing would resort to such activities. A police source said that they did not grill Katyal much because of his advanced age, but are going through his bank transactions to get to the bottom of this. The investigation has revealed that he conned several senior government officers in Delhi and Gurugram and got work done. On several occasions, he also claimed security on his visit to other states.

How He Conned Officers

Dinesh P, additional police commissioner of Ghaziabad, told the media that Katyal misused his contacts at St Stephen's and the connections he made during his stint in corporate affairs to drop names. "He has conned officers and conned people. We are probing his phone and bank details to find out how many people he conned and how much he extorted," he said. The senior police officer said that in one instance, Katyal sought appointment from Ministry of External Affairs, claiming that he is a college senior of External Affair Minister Dr S Jaishankar. He allegedly wanted to intervene in behalf of Dubai Billionaire Balvinder Singh Sahni who was arrested over massive fraud allegations. Police have also found evidence of Katyal demanding money from Sahni.

How He Was Caught

Anil Katyal walked into the police net, probably out of the overconfidence gained from several successful cons. Recently, his friend Vinod Kapoor was charged in a fraud case at a police station in Ghaziabad's Indirapuram. Kapoor owns a construction company that has earlier completed projects in Delhi airport and Gwalior airbase. "To protect him, Anil Katyal introduced himself as a retired IPS officer presently working as an MHA advisor. He was trying to pressure the police station chief and other officers and threatening them with cases. We have found a lot of incriminating evidence from his phone," the senior officer said.

According to reports, Katyal told police officers that his friend had been wrongfully arrested and threatened to sue them. He visited the officer of Ghaziabad police commissioner on Tuesday to lobby for Kapoor. According to a report in The Times of India, he took some people posing as IPS officers for effect. The top cop smelled a rat when Katyal insisted for a photograph with him. "When we searched online if there was any officer from the 1979 batch, there were zero matches and we caught him," the officer said. The senior officer warned the people against such conmen and said no former IAS/IPS officer would threaten people and support criminals.

Katyal and Kapoor have been arrested under charges of cheating, obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions and putting person in fear of accusation of offence, in order to commit extortion. Questioned by the media after his arrest, he said, "Don't trouble me. I have answered many people. I have done enough in life." Asked if he was an IPS officer, he said, "I don't know what I am."

Inputs from Pintu Tomar