Guard arrested on charge of impersonating Army subedar

Pune: A security guard from Chikhali, an Assam Rifles paramilitary force deserter, was arrested on Sunday night on the charge of impersonating an Army subedar.
Prashant Patil (32), the arrested guard, is from Kupat Giri in Khanapur taluka of Belagavi district in Karnataka. He had deserted the Assam Rifles in 2019.
“The anti-extortion cell of the crime branch, tipped off about Patil’s activity by the Army Southern Command’s military intelligence (MI) unit, seized two Army uniforms, fake identity card with photo in Army uniform, three bogus Aadhaar cards, a PAN card and a couple of cellphones from him,” deputy commissioner of police (crime) Amol Zende told TOI.
Patil has four previous cases, including one of cheating and exploiting a woman, of misusing the Army uniform. The cases were registered with the Sinhagad Road police in Pune, the Dehu Road and the Wakad police in Pimpri Chinchwad, and the MIDC police in Ahmednagar between 2000 and 2001, the police said.
The MI unit officials said Patil had posted his profile on matrimonial sites posing as an Army subedar. His social media posts revealed that he had visited some defence establishments.
The police investigation revealed that Patil procured two Army uniforms from a retired subedar major, who runs a tailoring unit that provides uniforms for Army officers and personnel in Khadki. Patil had promised to pay Rs4,700 to the subedar for the uniforms and other articles, but did not pay the same, the police said.
Assistant commissioner of police (crime II) Satish Govekar said, “The retired subedar major suspected Patil and wondered how the latter could have attained the rank of a subedar at such a young age. But he did not say anything to Patil and supplied the uniforms as the behaviour of the latter was like an Army man. He later shared the information with senior Army officials.”
Govekar said, “Patil told us during his questioning that he was a havaldar with the Assam Rifles when he deserted the paramilitary force following divorce with his wife. Later, he picked up the job of a security guard in Pimpri Chinchwad. To get rid of frustration, he started posing as an Army man. One of the four cases lodged against Patil is of rape and three are of matrimonial frauds. The Bund Garden police will share information of his arrest with the Assam Rifles.”