Man Posing as Lost Son Swindles 9 Families in 6 States

A day after a guy was taken into custody here for allegedly pretending to be the long-lost son of two distinct families, one from Uttarakhand and the other from Ghaziabad, police said on Saturday that the accused used the same ruse to defraud at least seven more families in other states. According to sources, police have identified two of the seven families and are attempting to obtain the details of the other five.

They claimed that nine families from six states—Rojaja, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand—were deceived by accused Indraraj Rawat. Nimish Patil, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (trans-Hindon), claimed that Rawat, a native of Rajasthan, had deceived three families in the state.

Over the years, Rawat had lived with at least nine different families, persuading them that he was a long-lost son who had been abducted as a youngster. Four of these individuals have been identified by the police, and enquiries are underway to identify five more that he may have fooled in a similar manner," Patil added.

According to the authorities, Rawat has been accused with house trespassing, cheating, and impersonation.

When Rawat, pretending to be Raju, went to the Khoda police station on November 24 and said he had been abducted 31 years before when he was seven years old, the matter became public knowledge last month. In Shaheed Nagar Colony in Sahibabad, he and his sister were walking home from school when he was kidnapped by three guys in a tempo.

According to Rawat, the kidnappers brought him to Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, where he was confined to a room and made to work as a shepherd, where he was chained at night and subjected to physical torture.

He said that after noticing his predicament, a businessman from Delhi felt sorry for him, transported him to Ghaziabad, and abandoned him at the border. The Tularams, a local family who thought Rawat was their lost son, welcomed him with the assistance of the police.

Police enquiries, however, quickly uncovered inconsistencies in Rawat's story. After more investigation, they learnt that he had a criminal past and that his true name is Indraraj Rawat. "Pretending to be a distant relative, Rawat stayed with a family in Rawatsar, Rajasthan, in 2021 before robbing them and leaving. He was eventually taken into custody, but he persisted in his deceitful tactics after being freed on bond and serving a brief jail sentence.

The accused resided with a family in Sikar, Rajasthan, in 2023, where he pretended to be Pankaj, their missing son. Later, he relocated to Dehradun, where he lived with another family for four months while posing as their son Monu, according to the DCP.

According to the officer, he also visited Sirsa in Haryana, Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, and Bhatinda in Punjab, where he persuaded people that he was their long-lost kid.

According to authorities, Rawat was a chronic thief who was left behind by his own family in 2005 after they became tired of hearing complaints about his small-time crimes. Before beginning his rampage to defraud other families in 2021, he first spent a few months living with a few of his relatives, they noted.

"Rawat used emotionally charged, made-up stories to gain the confidence and compassion of families, frequently those with missing children, which helped to make his falsehoods seem more credible. "Once accepted into these homes, he would live a comfortable life, free from the need to work, while secretly stealing valuable goods from his hosts before disappearing when he felt his secret might be exposed," according to the DCP.

According to police, Rawat acknowledged after questioning that he continued to steal while working as a worker at fairs after being taken from his family in 2005.

His whole criminal background, including his move, is currently being pieced together by the police.