On December 9, Gorakhpur police arrested 27-year-old Lalit Kishor, who pretended to be IAS officer Gaurav Kumar Singh. Starting six months ago, he lived in a rented house in Jhungia Bazar, Gorakhpur, attracting many visitors in cars. Police caught him after a tip-off from the Railway Protection Force. Lalit, originally from Sitamarhi, Bihar, was driven around in a white car with fake government plates and had about 10 men working as his security staff, paid ₹30,000 each per month. His brother-in-law, a software professional called “Steno Babu,” earned ₹60,000 monthly. They extorted money from private school operators by conducting fake inspections. Police seized forged IDs, laptops, cash, and AI-edited photos showing Lalit as a district magistrate. He spent around ₹5 lakh monthly on convoys and personnel. The arrest followed the detention of a contractor carrying ₹99 lakh cash, who revealed Lalit had accepted a ₹5 crore bribe promising a government tender worth ₹450 crore. When the tender was lost, Lalit was pressured to return the bribe. Police also found evidence of him paying ₹1.7 crore and two cars for this tender. Lalit’s family in Bihar lives in poverty and claimed no contact with him. He left in 2017 and briefly returned in 2020. He married a local student and opened coaching institutes in Bihar and Banka, where he cheated people out of money promising government jobs. Lalit and two aides have duped at least 40 people and taken crores of rupees. All three are arrested. Police urge anyone defrauded by them to come forward.