NEW DELHI: For a decade, Delhi Police's Crime Branch had been chasing notorious conman Raj Kumar Sharma, wanted in multiple cases of cheating and forgery. The accused had disappeared, leaving deceit and financial crimes in his wake.

His long-standing trickery — living a double life as a doctor — came to an end, however, when the cops tracked him to Haridwar in Uttarakhand.The pursuit began with a tip-off about Sharma's whereabouts. The Crime Branch team posed as patients, sought an appointment with the doctor and verified his identity. On the intervening night of June 11 and 12, the team nabbed him from his house in Haridwar.Sanjeev Yadav, DCP (Crime Branch), confirmed his arrest.

"During interrogation, Sharma revealed his long-standing efforts to evade the law enforcement agencies. He frequently changed his appearances, address and mobile number to avoid detection. The accused had been living a double life, posing as a doctor in Haridwar while hiding his notorious past as a conman in Delhi," said Yadav.After being declared a proclaimed offender nearly a decade ago, Sharma built a new identity for himself in Haridwar.

He posed as a doctor of AIIMS Rishikesh and was locally known as "Doctor sahib". During a search at his residence, police confirmed he had been living as a respected medical professional, despite having no verified healthcare qualifications.

Sharma's history of deceit dates back to 2007, when he was involved in a cheating and forgery case registered at the Crime Branch police station. He, along with five others, duped govt banks by taking vehicle loans on forged documents.

He and his associates were arrested and a car obtained through fraudulent financing was also recovered from him. However, during the trial, Sharma stopped appearing in court and was declared a proclaimed offender in Dec 2016.In another case registered in 2015, Sharma cheated a person out of Rs 14 lakh by selling a plot with forged documents. "He defrauded two individuals by selling them a plot of land using forged ownership papers.

To delay action, Sharma issued a cheque of Rs 26 lakh drawn on a bank account that had been closed years earlier," a senior cop revealed.The accused's profile reveals a man with a complex past. Born in Bulandshahr, UP, in 1973, Sharma studied up to BA from Meghalaya University. After graduation, he started publishing monthly magazines and newspapers in north Delhi's Burari. At present, he had no source of income and depended on ancestral agricultural income besides the fees from patients, cops said.The Crime Branch team, led by inspectors Mangesh Tyagi and Robin Tyagi and supervised by ACP Arvind Kumar, had been tracking the fugitive but he managed to remain under cover for a long time.