The Haryana Police crime department on Monday introduced it had busted an inter-state racket by arresting 5 individuals concerned in duping aspirants in search of authorities jobs within the Indian Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Border Security Force, Food Corporation of India and the general public works division amongst others.

“Taking benefit of the aspirations of kids, the perpetrators defrauded them of a complete of 16.5 lakh,” the police said in a release.

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Acting on a complaint lodged in Bhiwani, additional director general of police, state crime branch, OP Singh set up a special investigation team (SIT), led by superintendent of police Suresh Kumar. The SIT chased leads for five months and gathered evidence that led to the arrest of the five accused, comprising two from Uttar Pradesh, two from Delhi, and one from Haryana. A sum of 4 lakh, mobile phones, computers, and pen drives used in the crime were recovered from them.

In their complaint, Ravindra, Vikram, and Pradeep, all residents of Bhiwani, said they had applied for the position of godown attendant in the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and were cheated into paying 5.5 lakh each as security deposit for the job. They paid a total of 16.5 lakhs.

They were handed over fake appointment letters and asked to undergo training in Ferozepur in Punjab. They submitted their documents and were issued identity cards for the training period of three months with the promise of job placement. As several days passed without any posting or salary, they approached the police at Bhiwani. The district superintendent of police ordered the registration of an FIR.

The crime branch began investigating the matter in February and arrested the accused, who not only issued fake appointment letters and held bogus training programs but also handed over fabricated government identity cards.

The mastermind, Deepak Rathi of Muzaffarnagar in UP, and Vishnu Chauhan of Katesara in Rohtak district were caught first. A mobile phone and 1.9 lakh were recovered from Rathi. The SIT arrested the third accused, Rahul of Sitapur in UP. He was the broker and prepared the fake documents.

Two mobile phones and 22,000 were seized from Rahul.

The SIT caught Vimal Kumar of Delhi and the fourth accused with two mobile phones and 1.88 lakh.

Lastly, Mohammad Shoaib of Shastri Nagar in Delhi was also arrested.

“During interrogation, the accused admitted that they had carried out such fraudulent actions associated to authorities job affords in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Punjab,” the police stated.

A pen drive and a pc had been recovered. The pc had pretend stamps, paid letters, and cast signatures of the Government of India. The accused had entry to a hyperlink and an electronic mail ID related to an internet site resembling the official portal of the Food Corporation of India. Through this platform, they despatched the pretend job letters.