Overview

• On September 23, a special court in Mumbai convicted the 58-year-old for personating a public servant and sentenced him to three years in jail.
• He was found guilty under IPC section 170 and section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, while a separate cheating charge did not stand.
• Investigators said he demanded Rs 50 lakh from businessman Anwar Merchant, took Rs 25 lakh, escorted him to the CBI office in Delhi, and introduced another impersonator.
• The court noted he later refused to return the money and threatened to implicate the complainant in terror charges, which the victim cited as the reason for delaying the FIR.
• The judge accepted that the delay followed a CBI public notice about impostors and recorded that Sharma, 85% disabled from a 2020 accident, appeared via video conference and had a prior impersonation conviction.