The fake lost son: Man who was ‘enslaved’ in Jaisalmer for 30 years turns out to be a thief | Noida News – Times of India

GHAZIABAD: A compulsive shoplifter disowned by his own for habits that brought the family shame, Indraj Meghwal wandered from city to city and found ‘parents’ to live with almost at will and nearly everywhere he went.
Also read: Indraj to Bhim, Monu, Ram Pratap, Pankaj & more: Viral ‘serial son’ won’t fool families anymore, arrested
On Friday, his run as a serial son came to an end after he was arrested for fraud, two weeks after his sudden appearance at a police station in Ghaziabad claiming to have been kidnapped from here as a boy and looking to be reunited with his parents.

The fantastic story he told the police – that he was taken in a truck to Jaisalmer and enslaved in an animal farm for 30 years – got the cops determined to find his family. And they did. Leelawati, whose son had been kidnapped in 1993, came to the police station after the cops dug up old kidnapping cases and contacted four families. “Tum mere Bhim ho (you are my Bhim)?” she asked him. “Haan ma, mai tera Bhim hun (Yes, mother. I am your Bhim)” he replied. The two hugged.
What Leelawati did not know was that this was a modus operandi Indraj had mastered. He picked up clues from discussions and cues from emotions to appropriate them. He had no idea who Bhim was, but as a guest at the police station, had picked up enough as they sifted through cases. Three other families had come to the police station but he responded like that only to Leelawati, something about her telling him his story would fly. He wasn’t wrong. As Bhim Singh, Indraj became a ‘long lost son’ to a couple for five days till information came in from Dehradun that he had stayed with a couple there for some weeks as their son Monu Singh this July. Police detained him and began a probe.

Bhim, they found, is actually Indraj Meghwal, 38 years old and a resident of Jaitsar in Rajasthan’s Anupgarh district, a petty thief who was thrown out of his house in 2005 for his habits. In 2021, he stayed at a relative’s house in Hanumangarh for three months before fleeing with gold ornaments and a mobile phone. In the last four years, he is believed to have lived with nine families, successfully peddling the story with which he landed up here – that he had been kidnapped as a boy and was looking for his parents.
A police team that visited his house learnt his real father’s name is Chunni Lal Meghwal, a farmer. Police also met his mother, brother Ranesh and sisters Manju and Veermati. “His father told us about his stealing habits, which began with stealing money from his pocket and then items from neighbouring houses. He also stole from homes of relatives who they visited,” said Nimish Patil, DCP, trans-Hindon. “A local resident told the visiting police team, ‘Indraj ko ek minute ke liye khada kar do, kuchh gayab ho jayega’ (something will disappear if Indraj spends a minute at a place),” the DCP added.
Ramesh told TOI, locals would come to their house daily with complaints about Indraj. The family, especially their mother, protected him but it eventually became too much for them. “Due to his stealing habits, we had to leave our home and settle in Sri Ganganagar,” he said.
Indraj lived with distant relatives after 2005 but wouldn’t last beyond a few months anywhere. In 2010, he found work at a security forces’ shooting range near Bikaner as a cleaner. “His job was to clean the field after shooting practice,” the DCP said. Indraj stole a uniform from here and left. He had appeared before the police in Ghaziabad wearing a uniform.
He did work at an animal farm, not in captivity like he claimed but as a gesture of kindness from its owner. And he spent three months there. Not 30 years. This was in Hanumangarh in 2021. He approached Hetram for a job. Hetram said he could tend to his sheep. He robbed the house and fled three months later. An FIR was filed and he was charged under section 380 (theft) of IPC. He was caught and spent six months in jail before getting bail. The first time he told the Jaisalmer captivity story was after he got out of jail. He went to a police station in Sri Ganganagar and claimed to have been kidnapped 20 years ago. The police searched old files, and some families came to meet him, exactly like in Ghaziabad. “He listened to the conversation of one of the families and used the information he picked up to convince them he was indeed the ‘son’,” the DCP said. “The family of Asharam took him to their house. He lived with them as Ram Pratap for two months before fleeing.”
In 2023, Indraj went to a village in Sikar and similarly lived with Gauram Nayak as his son. Here, his name was Pankaj Kumar, the name of Gauram’s son who had been missing since 2005.
Police have learnt that Indraj had also lived with families in Bhatinda, Jaisalmer, Hisar and Sirsa “During investigation, all the families told police the accused used to ask them about their properties,” the DCP said. Police learnt that seven years ago, when Indraj was in Bhatinda, he fell ill and spent a month in hospital. He revealed his true identity to doctors after which they took him back home. But once he recovered, he fled. Indraj has been booked under section 319 (cheating by personation) and 393 (3) (criminal trespass) of BNS. He was sent to judicial custody.