Rajkot Man Arrested for Impersonating IAF Squadron Leader, Cheating Woman of ₹1.95 Lakh
Rajkot City Police have arrested a 33-year-old man accused of posing as an Indian Air Force officer from the Suryakiran Aerobatics Team and cheating a woman out of ₹1.95 lakh by promising to secure her a job in the Air Force.
The accused has been identified as Prateek Bharadwaj, a Rajkot resident who works at a local travel agency. Police said he was taken into custody on Friday, September 11, by a team from the Gandhigram-2 (University) Police Station after a technical analysis linked him to the online fraud. He had been living in a rented house at D-32, Shantiniketan Park-4, Nanavati Chowk, and two mobile phones were seized during the arrest.
The case came to light after a woman in her mid-twenties, originally from Rajkot and now working in Gandhinagar, approached Bharadwaj after coming across his Instagram profile. Police said the account displayed a photograph of him in what appeared to be an Indian Air Force uniform and featured several videos related to the IAF and the Suryakiran Aerobatics Team, including clips of the unit’s 30th raising day on May 26, 2026, as well as Independence Day, Republic Day and airshow performances. The posts on the account dated back to February 2025.
According to investigators, Bharadwaj told the woman that he was a Squadron Leader in the Flying Branch of Squadron 52, stationed at Bidar Air Force Station in Karnataka, which is the actual base of the Suryakiran Aerobatics Team. He then allegedly gained her trust and claimed he could arrange her recruitment in the Air Force. To make the offer appear genuine, he asked her to send money online in instalments for supposed expenses such as document verification, medical tests, training and uniform charges. The total amount transferred was ₹1.95 lakh. When no appointment or recruitment materialised, the woman realised she had been duped.
The woman filed a complaint on September 4 through the national cyber helpline 1930. The complaint was first registered as an e-Zero FIR under Gujarat Police’s newly launched cyber reporting system and then transferred to Gandhigram-2 (University) Police Station in Rajkot. Officials said the mechanism, introduced in late August 2026, allows complaints made on 1930 to be treated as Zero FIRs and forwarded to the appropriate police station. They described the case as among the first such e-Zero FIRs transferred to Rajkot City Police.
Police have registered offences under Sections 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, which covers cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property; 319(2), which deals with cheating by personation; and 204, along with Section 66(D) of the Information Technology Act for cheating by personation using a computer resource.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (West) R. S. Bariya said Bharadwaj is not an Air Force officer and instead works at a travel agency in Rajkot. He added that the accused had uploaded multiple Suryakiran Aerobatics Team videos on Instagram, apparently to lend credibility to the impersonation. Inspector K. K. Gohil of Gandhigram-2 Police Station said Bharadwaj had made little effort to hide his real identity or mobile number, leading investigators to believe this may have been his first recruitment-related fraud. At the same time, police noted that he had two earlier cases registered against him under Gujarat’s Prohibition Act.
The investigation was carried out under Inspector Gohil’s supervision, with ASI Sanjaybhai Thakar, Head Constable Rahul Thakur, Constable Savanbhai Vasoya and other personnel involved. Police said technical analysis established Bharadwaj’s identity. The probe is continuing to determine whether other job seekers were targeted, how the money was spent, and whether any accomplices were involved. Financial records are also being examined.
Squadron 52 of the Indian Air Force, known as the Suryakiran Aerobatics Team, is based at Bidar Air Force Station. Police stressed that recruitment into the IAF follows official procedures and is never arranged through private social media contacts or informal “internal settings.”
Authorities have urged people to be cautious about unsolicited job offers from individuals claiming to be defence officers on Instagram or similar platforms, to verify identities only through official channels, and to report suspected cyber fraud immediately by calling 1930.
