Emotional reunion after 30 years? No, that's how he stole from many families

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An emotional reunion after 30 years has turned out to be a fraud for a Ghaziabad family. Days after a man claimed he was a long-lost child who had finally returned home, it emerged as a modus operandi that he would often employ to rob houses.


Indraraj alias Raju alias Bhim has been arrested by Ghaziabad Police. Cops punched holes in his plans to rob the family as they unearthed his history of fraudulent claims.


Raju - originally from Rajasthan - claimed he was kidnapped in 1993, when he was just seven, pretending that he belonged to the family. He told the cops he returned after 30 years and took their help to get information about him published in the media and social media. The cops arranged food and clothes for him for about a week.


After the family contacted them, the accused also gave out emotional statements to the media about his homecoming.


It seemed like a happy ending, but it wasn't. The family soon got suspicious of Raju and informed the cops. Soon his DNA was sent for matching with that of the family, which led to his arrest.


Further probe revealed Raju was thrown out of his home since he had a habit of stealing.


"He used to steal from the houses of relatives and acquaintances, due to which his family got fed up with him and threw him out in 2005. Then he started hiding his identity and living in the houses of several people," said Nimish Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Trans Hindon, Ghaziabad.


Since being thrown out, he kept changing his identity to live with nine different families. Then he robbed their houses and left without informing anyone - this was his modus operandi.


Whenever Raju visited a family, he used to talk about what property they had, said the cops, suspecting that he was after their property. Raju, however, told the cops that after his mother's death, he used to live in others' houses for free food.


The cops have confirmed at least five places where he had stayed hiding his identity and suspect there could be more.


DCP Patil said Raju went to jail after being caught in 2021 and that he had committed similar offences in Punjab, Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, and Hisar and Sirsa in Haryana.


The police will now send its teams to other states to find out where all he had stayed hiding his identity and the robberies he committed, he said, adding that a fraud case has been filed against him.