Who is KS Rana? Ex-VC held for posing as Oman ‘High Commissioner’, flaunted Mercedes with fake diplomatic car plates

Police in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh arrested a man on March 14 for impersonating the high commissioner of Oman and dabbling with protocols including flaunting a fake’ diplomatic status in Uttar Pradesh and other states.

The arrested has been identified as KS Rana, a resident of Amar Colony in South Delhi. Rana has been booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Nimish Patil told reporters. Rana was posing himself as a diplomat by creating fake documents to garner undue gains, he said.

A Mercedes car with fake diplomatic plates, one identity card and 46 visiting cards were recovered from his possession at the time of his arrest from UP Gate in Ghaziabad, the police said.

Who is KS Rana?

Sixty-six-year-old Rana is a resident of Delhi’s Amar Colony near Lajpat Nagar. Last year, Rana worked as a trade commissioner for a non-profit named India GCC Trade Council, which aims to boost India’s trade with Gulf countries. Later he became the trade director of the said NGO to augment trade with foreign countries. He owns Krishna College of Science and Technology and a resort in Rajasthan, police said.

Vice Chancellor of ‘four’ Universities

Rana claimed to police during interrogation that he has been Vice-Chancellor (VC) in four universities in Uttarakhand and Rajasthan between 2018 and 2024. He was VC of Kumaun University in Nainital from 2018 to 2020), Uttarakhand Residential University in Almora from 2020-21, Mewar University in Rajasthan from 2021-22 and University of Technology in Jaipur for some time in 2024.

Kumaun University and Jaipur Technical University have confirmed his tenure to the police, news agency PTI reported. The police have not received a reply from Almora and Mewar

Rana told police that he worked as a professor at a university in Agra between 1982 and 2015, they said. After retirement, Rana said he was the Appraisal Authority in the Union Environment Ministry from 2015 to 2018, where his job was to give environmental clearances, according to police. The police have not yet received a reply from the Environment Ministry either.

How did the police nab him?

On March 11, the Ghaziabad Police Commissionerate and District Magistrate’s office received a letter requesting ‘necessary protocol and security arrangements’ for ‘Dr (Prof) KS Rana, High Commissioner of the Sultanate of Oman (Muscat)’ for a visit to his daughter’s house in Vaishali on March 12.

The request seemed usual to police but for one major mistake that caught Ghaziabad Police Commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra’s eye.

Oman’s diplomatic representative to India is called an ambassador and not a high commissioner since Oman is not part of the British Commonwealth. This raised doubts in the police about Rana’s credentials.

Police provided the protocol but questioned him too. The police contacted the Embassy of Oman, where officials denied knowing KS Rana. The embassy also denied providing the Mercedes car to Rana.

Rana had earlier sought VIP protocols in Mathura, and Faridabad, and was the chief guest at an event at a Delhi hotel in February while posing as the “high commissioner”, according to the police.

After due verification, police on March 14 arrested Rana for impersonation, concealing his identity, and preparing fake documents.