Woman poses as DRDO commander to defraud job aspirants, contractors

A 42-year-old woman, who allegedly conned DRDO job aspirants and contractors out of crores of rupees by posing as a commander in the premier agency, has landed in police custody.

Baiyappanahalli police arrested Darshana Bhardwaj and her male associate Jyotirmayi. Darshana is the former wife of a military officer, according to police. One of her victims was N Mohan, a real-estate developer. He told the police that he got to know Darshana some months ago through a friend.

Darshana showed interest in buying a house that Mohan had constructed and introduced herself as a captain in MES (GE). She told him that DRDO needed real-estate developers for the maintenance of buildings and promised to get him a contract worth Rs 66 crore.

She called Mohan to the DRDO EMU office on October 10, 2022, got him to sign some documents and pretended to be the authorised person for awarding the contract. She pocketed Rs 1.16 crore from him as a commission to release the funds from the DRDO to start the work. She later told him that MES had issued a DD for Rs 19 crore and demanded another Rs 40 lakh to give it to him.

By this time, Mohan had become suspicious. He inquired about her with DRDO and found that she wasn’t part of the organisation. He filed a police complaint on February 11.

Darshana carried a fake ID that showed her as a captain in the DRDO and wore a military uniform. She would visit the DRDO office and show the ID card to security. Before the guards could have a clear look at the ID, she would pretend that she was pregnant, feeling dizzy and needed rest. As the staff allowed her to sit in a room, she would call the victims to discuss the deal. She was previously arrested by HSR Layout police for duping a businessman.