For Years, This Twin Got Caught for His Brother’s Scams

Ram Singh Porte, an alleged conman from the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, has scammed dozens of people and stolen their money, according to police.

Yet, he managed to get away with it for nine years because almost every time the police tried to catch him, they ended up catching his twin brother Laxman instead. 

Porte first came on the police’s radar in 2012, after he allegedly conned a woman and sold her fake herbal medicine. The woman was suffering from an undiagnosed illness that Porte claimed was due to paranormal activity, and he promised he and his accomplices could cure her. 

“He pretended to be a mystical medicine man and would sell people bogus herbs as medicines,” Harish Sahu, the local police inspector in charge of the case, told VICE World News. “He would pose as a guru and convince families suffering from unexplained illnesses that they were possessed and needed his help to break free.” Using this modus operandi, Porte and his gang were able to pocket more than Rs 150,000 or $2000. 

In India, conmen frequently pose as spiritual leaders or “gurus” and trick people into parting with their money through donations or by offering dubious medical cures. 

According to the police, Porte worked with three accomplices identified only by their first names: Rajmal, Saurang and Rahul. But his partners in crime were caught between 2012 and 2015. Porte, however, managed to escape the police’s clutches by using his twin brother as a decoy.

The police raided Porte’s supposed hideout several times, but they encountered Laxman each time. Eventually, the case of mistaken identity left even the cops confused, as the man they caught would always insist they had the wrong twin. 

“We were only able to arrest him after we received a tip from one of his family members that he would be attending a local festival,” said Sahu. “We caught him at the festival and were able to get a confession from him after he was locked up.” 

Porte now awaits sentencing in police custody. His brother Laxman, meanwhile, has been let go. 

Criminals using their twins to slip past the law isn’t new. In 2018, a prisoner in Peru serving a 16-year sentence escaped from jail by drugging his twin brother who came to visit him and used him as a decoy. 

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