A Home Guard, who posed as a Head Constable to cheat a mechanic, has been arrested by Krishnaraja Police. The arrest was made yesterday based on a complaint by the mechanic who was cheated of Rs. 1.40 lakh. The accused had promised to give him a Police jeep.

In his complaint, Sharavana, a mechanic and a resident of Ramabainagar, said that he owned a shop at the Nala Beedhi in K.R. Mohalla and was introduced to Supreeth Kumar alias Shivakumar alias Preetham by his brother-in-law Prakash.

Prakash is the resident of J.P. Nagar and used to deal with tractors and had developed contact with Supreeth, a resident of Chamarajanagar, who used to stay at his mother-in-law’s house at Devalapura. They met each other in January 2014 and knew each other well.

Supreeth, who was a Home Guard at Mandi Police Station, had told Prakash that he was a Head Constable at Lashkar Police Station.

He claimed that he had good contacts in the Police department and would secure jobs for deserving candidates. He also claimed that he could procure good-condition Police vehicles for a lesser price.

As Supreeth used to roam around in khaki uniform, Prakash did not suspect and introduced him to Sharavana so that he can get hold of good vehicles and make some profit. Mechanic Sharavana too believed Supreeth and sought to buy a couple of vehicles including a Police jeep. Sometime back, Supreeth took Sharavana to the CAR Grounds and showed him a parked jeep and claimed that the jeep was up for sale and using his influence he (Supreeth) could procure the vehicle for dirt cheap price.

Believing Supreeth, Sharavana paid money as advance and asked Supreeth to get him the vehicle. In all, Sharavana paid Rs. 1,40 lakh in instalments and Supreeth kept promising that he would get the vehicle. As months passed, Sharavana got suspicious as the accused was demanding more money.

Sharavana then approached the Lashkar Police Station to enquire about Supreeth where the Police told him that he was not a head constable but a home guard at Mandi Police Station. He then lodged a complaint with the KR Police Station. A team led by Inspector Prakash arrested Supreeth from his in-laws place at Devalapura.