Sambhajinagar ‘fake IAS’ case: Woman’s exchange with man in Pak under probe
Sambhajinagar police informed court that woman arrested for posing as IAS officer had been in communication with individual in Pakistan, maintained contact with Afghan national living in India
PUNE: A case of alleged high-level impersonation has assumed an international dimension, with the Sambhajinagar police informing a local court that a woman arrested for posing as an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer had been in communication with an individual in Islamabad, Pakistan, and maintained close contact with an Afghan national living in India.
Kalpana Trimbakrao Bhagwat, 45, a former senior assistant at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (BAMU), was arrested on Sunday for allegedly forging identity documents, fabricating an IAS appointment letter, and staying for nearly six months at a star hotel using a tampered Aadhar card.
Investigators said that Bhagwat was in frequent touch with Islamabad-based Yama Ghalif, the brother of her Afghan friend, Mohammad Ashraf Khil, who has been living in Delhi for the past seven years. Call detail records (CDRs) indicate multiple exchanges between Bhagwat and the Pakistan-based number though much of the chat history has allegedly been deleted.
On Wednesday, the police, while seeking Bhagwat’s custody for 10 days, informed the court through a remand report, which Hindustan Times has seen, that the pattern of communication, financial transfers into Bhagwat’s account, and her travel history had raised ‘serious concerns’ about possible foreign links. The court remanded her to police custody till December 5.
According to police inspector Yogesh Gaikwad, Khil had shared screenshots showing Pakistan visa applications for his brother and two other family members along with messages such as, “Pata nahee mera deal kiya honga. Deal Pakistan mein hain. Dealer waha hain”. In another message, he had purportedly written, “Mai Afghan mei hoon abhi”. The content of these exchanges was ‘suspicious’ and required deeper scrutiny, Gaikwad said.
According to the police, Bhagwat received ₹3,268,862 between January 1 and November 21, 2025 from ‘different individuals’. A major red flag, according to officers, was the recovery of two cheques from her hotel room — one for ₹19 crore issued by a nationalised bank, and the other for ₹6 lakh from a private bank. Notices under section 179 have been issued to the people who made large deposits into Bhagwat’s account. “They will be questioned about the purpose of sending such huge amounts,” a police officer said.
During a search of hotel room 322, where Bhagwat stayed for almost four months, the police recovered a five-page photocopy titled ‘Appointment in the Indian Administrative Service on the basis of Civil Services Examination 2017’ with Bhagwat’s name bearing serial number 333. The document appears to be forged. Officers said she used a tampered Aadhar card both to check into the hotel and to ‘cheat the government as well as the hotel owner’.
The police also seized a letter purportedly written by a former vice-chancellor (V-C) endorsing Bhagwat’s ‘religious and social work’ and addressing her as an IAS officer. The authenticity of this letter is now being verified. Despite having no declared source/s of income, she is believed to have spent nearly ₹6.96 lakh on her hotel stay alone; paying through credit card, UPI, and cash.
An analysis of the CDRs also revealed extensive travel to Jaipur, Udaipur and other locations in Rajasthan; Delhi; and Manipur; where she allegedly met several unidentified persons. “We are probing the purpose of these trips and the identities of the people she met,” the police said.
Before her arrest, Bhagwat had abruptly resigned from the BAMU, claiming that she had cleared the UPSC examination and been appointed to the IAS. Colleagues said she left after telling the staff that she had ‘secured a place in the Civil Services’.
Given the alleged links with individuals in Pakistan and Afghanistan, central intelligence and security agencies have begun a parallel inquiry. Officials said that the case now involves a ‘sensitive international angle’ due to suspected misuse of forged identity documents and the unexplained financial trail.
The FIR, registered on November 23 at the CIDCO police station, invokes sections 318(4), 336(2), 336(3), 339 and 214 of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) for offences committed between June 22 and November 22, 2025, at a prominent hotel in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. The police also said that Bhagwat had contacted a Delhi-based person whose number she saved as ‘OSD to HM’. When investigators dialled the number, the phone was switched off.
Bhagwat’s police custody was extended by 10 days on November 26 after forensic analysis of her mobile phone revealed 11 international contacts, including numbers saved as ‘Peshawar cantonment board’, ‘Afghan embassy’, ‘Zardari Sir wife’, and “office Afghan embassy”. Investigators are now examining the purpose of these contacts and the frequency of communication.
PUNE: A woman, Kalpana Bhagwat, 45, was arrested for impersonating an IAS officer, allegedly forging documents and staying at a hotel with a tampered Aadhar card. Investigations revealed international links, including communication with individuals in Pakistan and Afghanistan, raising concerns over financial transfers and suspicious travel. Authorities are probing her contacts and the authenticity of her claims.