Wanted 77-year-old fraudster posing as army colonel held from Patiala old-age home         

A 77-year-old man who had been absconding for over a decade after jumping bail in a cheating case involving the Army Welfare Housing Organisation (AWHO) was arrested from an old-age home in Punjab's Patiala, the Delhi Police said on Sunday.

Sitaram Gupta, a native of Mansa, was impersonating an army colonel and duped people by offering flats and shops under fictitious AWHO schemes, police in a statement said.

"Gupta, a postgraduate in economics and history from Panjab University and a former student of ex-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had been evading trial in a 2007 cheating case registered at Vivek Vihar police station in Delhi," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Apoorva Gupta said in the statement.

He allegedly took Rs 56,000 from a complainant after offering him a flat and shop under the AWHO scheme and issued forged receipts, the officer said.

After his arrest in 2007 and subsequent release on bail, Gupta went underground and failed to appear before court, leading to the issuance of non-bailable warrants.

On April 26 this year, the Karkardooma court declared him a proclaimed offender. He had started his career as a contractor supplying oil to Army cantonments across India, the statement said.

During this period, he gained knowledge of the Army's functioning, which he later used to impersonate a senior army officer and lure unsuspecting people with promises of employment and housing benefits.

"He moved to Delhi in 1987 and began posing as a colonel. He conned several people on the pretext of recruitment in the army and real estate opportunities through AWHO," the DCP said.

A special team was formed which was tasked with tracking Gupta. Based on a tip-off, the team conducted surveillance and zeroed in on the old-age home in Patiala where he was living under a false identity.

"He had changed his appearance and cut off ties with his family to evade arrest. After confirming his identity, he was apprehended from the shelter," the officer added.

Gupta admitted to his involvement in multiple cases of cheating, including three other fraud cases registered with the Shakarpur police station and the Crime Branch in Delhi, related to fake army job offers.

Police said Gupta's wife has passed away and he has two children. He had been leading a secluded life to evade arrest, shifting locations and using different phone numbers.