Darjeeling, Jan. 3: An impostor in full uniform of an army officer was caught here this morning along with a young woman from Ging Tea Estate whom he had allegedly duped into marrying him.

The 27-year-old man, identified as Jaimti, has a long history of conning army jawans by pretending to be an officer, said Darjeeling police. The military intelligence had been on his trail.

Jaimti was arrested when the police spotted him roaming around the motor stand, looking for a vehicle to get out of the town. He was in his uniform and was accompanied by the woman.

“Our men got suspicious because his physical appearance and personality belied his officer’s attire. Our suspicions grew when we saw him with a local girl,” said N.T. Sherpa, the inspector-in-charge of the Sadar police station.

According to Sherpa, initially Jaimti claimed that he was leaving Darjeeling to join his unit in Leh. His uniform suggested that he was with a paratrooper unit.

However, when the police wanted to see his credentials, Jaimti tore his ID card into pieces. He was immediately taken into custody.

“During interrogation, conducted in the presence of officers from the military intelligence, we found that Jaimti was an impostor. Even the girl has recorded a statement maintaining that he had duped her into marrying him,” said Sherpa.

The police said Jaimti, who works in a “juice factory” at Vasant Vihar, New Delhi, first came to Ging with a friend, Suraj Tamang, six months ago. He has kept coming back since, purportedly to meet his wife whom he married around four months ago. “We will also pick up Tamang and investigate his role,” said Sherpa.

Jaimti’s main target, however, were army jawans. Around a week ago, he drugged a havildar, R.N. Sharma, at New Delhi station and made off with his belongings. Sharma, who was returning to his home in Himachal Pradesh after retiring from the army, had had a drink with the “officer” he met at the station.

Jaimti’s brush with the army had begun much earlier, when he had enrolled himself as a civilian cook at Nasik. “He was subsequently arrested for stabbing a colleague,” an army source told The Telegraph.

In 1999, Jaimti, who hails from Arrah district in Bihar, moved to Delhi and got himself a full army officer’s uniform complete with all the regalia from Agra. That is when his life as an impostor began.

“He regularly duped army jawans whom he befriended at stations. Sometime back, he was arrested by the military intelligence,” said the army source.

Jaimti has been booked under Sections 420 (forgery) and 376 (rape), among others.