LUCKNOW, Sept. 5 -- The arrest of fake IAS officer Saurabh Tripathi, 36, has stunned officials and exposed how a single impostor exploited systemic gaps to infiltrate high-security zones, dupe businessmen and flaunt authority for years. Police who interrogated the accused said he was full of confidence, which he used to dupe people for so long. "Using his confidence, he would gain entry at any event as he would walk with private gunners (bodyguards) to intimidate security personnel at such meetings and events with bureaucrats and ministers," said station house officer, Wazirganj, Rajesh Kumar Tripathi, adding that he has been sent to jail. The question remains as to how the fake officer managed to walk into closed-door government meetings, bypass protocol and even get treated as a chief guest at events? To recall, the Lucknow police caught the fake IAS officer during a routine vehicle checking drive in the state capital on Wednesday and seized six luxury vehicles forged passes and IDs. He used the high-sounding self-styled designation of cabinet special secretary. DCP Crime Kamlesh Dixit said, "The accused's assistant, who used to roam around with him, also did not know about his reality as he (Saurabh Tripathi) hid his identity from him as well." The DCP added that Lucknow police are collecting information about the states which he visited. "Tripathi drove a Fortuner to official meetings, but switched to a Mercedes or Defender when negotiating shady deals," said an officer looking after the case. He kept personal security guards, one of whom wore a police uniform, the officer said. "Investigators are now probing how he sourced these men and the uniforms," he added. Tripathi's scam stretched across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Bihar. In Lucknow, he claimed to be a special secretary in the UP government. Outside the state, he reinvented himself as a Union government officer. Police said he convinced people he was on the verge of a high-profile UP cadre posting, using this assurance to win trust and extract money. "Carefully posed photographs with ministers, senior bureaucrats and even religious leaders were splashed on his social media, supporting his claim of being a powerful officer. For many, those images erased all doubt," said the SHO. Police have traced three residences to his hometown Mau, a flat in Noida's Garima Vihar, and a plush apartment in Lucknow's Gomtinagar extension at Shalimar One World. "He rented them to create an aura as each address added weight to his fabricated story of influence and wealth," the police station in charge said. The arrest of Tripathi has shocked his college mates. "We studied BCA together in Ghaziabad between 2006-2009. We are all shocked," a close friend said. "He would tell us his father is a politician in Mau district and had a flat in Noida as well. I also met him twice after college where he mentioned that he was working in the IT ministry. He was below average in studies but when he flexed his success on social media, all of us were in shock," his friend said....