For a year, former Vice-Chancellor posed as Oman’s ‘high commissioner’ — till a ‘designation’ error gave him away

The VIP protocol would have been put in place — but for one mistake that caught Ghaziabad Police Commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra’s eye.

“Oman is not part of the Commonwealth,” Mishra said. “There cannot be a High Commissioner to Oman. I found it odd and asked my team to verify where the letter had come from.”

The diplomatic designation, he said, was a red flag since the term ‘high commissioner’ is only used for Commonwealth countries.

After due verification, police on Thursday arrested ‘High Commissioner’ Rana for impersonation, concealing his identity, and preparing fake documents.

Rana, it turned out, was no ordinary imposter. Police said he was a former vice-chancellor of several universities in India.

How did the police draw him out?

The letter, written by his “private secretary Dev Kumar”, gave them the opportunity to lay a trap. This letter, police said, mentioned that Rana would be attending an “important meeting” in Kaushambi, in Ghaziabad, on Thursday.

So, they informed Rana that the necessary arrangements had been made. When the man reached Kaushambi on Thursday, he came face to face with a police team, was questioned, and was taken into custody.

Police said Rana, a resident of Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar, was a former Vice-Chancellor of Kumaun University in Nainital (2018 to 2020), Uttarakhand Residential University in Almora (2020-21), Mewar University in Rajasthan (2021-22) and University of Technology in Jaipur (for a few months in 2024).

His former colleagues at Kumaun University confirmed to The Indian Express that he had served as the Vice-Chancellor and said they last heard he was the Vice-Chancellor at Mewar University.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Trans Hindon) Patil Nimish Dasharath said Rana had been posing as the High Commissioner since August 2024. He wanted to take “undue advantage of the system”, he said.

“He had been successful in getting VIP protocol at Mathura and Faridabad earlier. He also posed as the ‘High Commissioner’ of Oman at an awards function in Delhi on February 22,” the DCP said.

He said they have written to the Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman and the universities where he has worked in the past to seek more information.

During questioning, police found that Rana also headed the Department of Zoology/ Environmental Science, Entomology & Fishery at the Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar University in Agra earlier.

In a statement, the DCP said he had also worked in the “Appraisal Authority with the Ministry of Environment before moving to a trade-related Bengaluru-based NGO, as a trade commissioner in 2024”.

“Soon, the position of trade commissioner turned into the ‘High Commissioner of Oman’ on paper, and he appointed a personal secretary, Dev Kumar, who helped him perpetuate the fraud,” Dasharath said.

Kumar has not been arrested yet.

Announcing the arrest, police brought Rana to a press conference in Ghaziabad on Thursday, where he said he wanted to enjoy “VIP security and facilities”.

“I installed a fake blue number plate used for diplomats on my private car (Mercedes GL 350). I also put a blue beacon on the car, a sticker of the Sultanate of Oman on the front and rear windshield, and a red sticker of the World Human Rights Protection Commission on the front windshield of the car,” he said.

The vehicle has been seized by the police. An FIR has been registered against Rana at Kaushambi police station in Ghaziabad under sections 319(2) (cheating), 318(4) (fraud), 336(3) (alteration of documents for fraud) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Mishra said Rana was caught because of two mistakes he made. “When an Ambassador or High Commissioner moves beyond the National Capital Territory, a letter is written to the Ministry of External Affairs, which in turn writes to the state government seeking the necessary arrangements. They cannot write to us directly,” he said.

The second, he said, was the designation of “high commissioner”. “It did not add up,” Mishra said.

The Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman could not be reached for comment.