July 10: The Trongsa District court has sentenced a 27-year-old man to eight years three months imprisonment for impersonation and cheating people of several thousand Ngultrums.

Dechen Dorji from Yarbang village under Phongmey geog in Trashigang has been found guilty on five different charges.

In the first case, he impersonated as Trongsa Drangpon and called up the head of the Bhutan Post in Trongsa and asked him to send Nu. 15,000 to a student in Gelephu.

On another occasion, Dechen Dorji cheated a man of Nu. 3,000 promising to help him process his driving license.

Dechen Dorji has been found in possession of four B-mobile sim cards and one Indian sim card in the name of different people. He used the sim cards to call up people and cheat them. All the five sim cards have been confiscated.

On one occasion, Dechen Dorji impersonated as the Samdrup Jongkhar Dzongda and called up the owner of a hotel in Samdrup Jongkhar asking him to give him Nu. 50,000. The fraud was discovered before he could collect the money.

He has also been found guilty of eloping with a female student of Trongsa Higher Secondary school who was on her way to Trongsa from Monggar to get her transfer certificate. He took her with him promising to transfer the ownership of his vehicles in her name.