Overview

• Gupta was first arrested in 2007 over a fake Army Welfare Housing Organisation deal but jumped bail and was declared a proclaimed offender by the Karkardooma Court earlier this year
• Police say he used insider knowledge from a 1980s stint as an Army oil contractor and his Panjab University education under former PM Manmohan Singh to lend credibility to his false rank
• Victims were enticed with promises of Indian Army jobs and housing allotments, including a bank employee who paid Rs 56,000 for a non-existent flat and shop
• To avoid capture, Gupta severed ties with family, altered his appearance, adopted multiple aliases and phone numbers, and lived undetected in a Patiala old-age home
• He now faces multiple IPC charges for cheating and forgery and is being questioned about potential additional victims or accomplices