India, July 9 -- Impersonating a police officer to cheat unsuspecting victims is one of the oldest tricks in a fraudster's book - but pulling it off right under the police commissioner's nose?

After a fairly successful run as a conman, a 51-year-old man has been arrested for cheating several shopkeepers outside the Mumbai police headquarters, by posing as an IPS officer.

"We arrested Sandeep Narayan Gosavi, alias Sandeep Karnik, alias Dinesh Bodulal Dikshit, on Monday. We laid a trap for him at the Aarey Stall outside the Mumbai Police Commissioner's office, and picked him up from there after the complainant pointed him out to us," said a police officer with the Mumbai crime branch.

Gosavi's run came to an end on July 7, after he attem...