In a bizarre scam, an Indian impersonated a judge and ran a fake court for 5 years before being arrested.

Indian authorities have uncovered a bizarre scam in the Gandhi Nagar area of Gujarat state, where a man named Maurice Samuel Christian impersonated a judge and ran a fake court that continued to deceive citizens for 5 years.

Christian rented an office that was furnished to look like a regular courtroom, and hired assistants who pretended to be court employees.

The scam began in 2019, when he set up a fake court from which he issued false rulings in favor of his clients in land disputes for exorbitant fees. Christian was able to exploit the trust of his victims, promising them a quick resolution to their property disputes.

Guys listen....
"37 year old Samuel ran a FAKE ARBITRATION TRIBUNAL for 5 years deceiving clients into believing he was a real judge. Several court (!) orders passed".... 🤦 This was in Ahmedabad. He's been arrested. But 5 years?! pic.twitter.com/y5qbvwXsvi

— Akancha Srivastava (@AkanchaS) October 23, 2024

The Indian man did not just impersonate a judge, but played his role perfectly, using the judge’s gavel to issue rulings in his fake court, and issuing fake orders to transfer government lands to the private sector for the benefit of his clients, as stated in the police report.

The fraudulent scheme was uncovered when the registrar of the Ahmedabad Civil Court, Hardik Desai, noticed that the documents submitted by Christian were forged. The suspicions came after Christian requested for the transfer of a government plot to a private party in favour of one of his clients through a fake court order.

Following a complaint filed by Desai on the directions of a civil court judge in Ahmedabad, the police arrested Maurice Christian. A case has been registered against him under Sections 170 and 419 of the Indian Penal Code, which pertain to impersonation and fraud.

This wasn't the first time Christian had run-ins with the law. He had previously faced fraud charges in 2015.

The case caused widespread shock on social media platforms, as users expressed their astonishment at Christian's ability to mislead the authorities and carry out this trick for years without being discovered.

Source: Al Jazeera