New Delhi: The CBI on Friday arrested three members of an interstate fake job syndicate that allegedly collected crores of rupees from aspirants over the last two years by promising them government jobs, officials said. They were apprehended during searches by the agency at nine locations in Patna, Mumbai, Mangaluru, Bengaluru and Dhanbad.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had booked six people in its FIR and three of them -- Ajay Kumar from Bengaluru, Aman Kumar alias Rupesh from Jharkhand and Abhishek Singh alias Vishal from Bihar -- were arrested, the officials said. During the searches, it emerged that the syndicate was operating for more than two years and had collected crores of rupees from aspirants by promising them government jobs, the officials said.
"It was alleged that the organised syndicate, consisting of private persons, was taking huge amounts of money (between Rs 10-20 lakh, sometimes in installments) in the camouflage of processing fees/security deposits from prospective jobseekers in various central government departments and PSUs (public sector units)," the CBI said in a statement.
Members of the syndicate conducted fake training camps for aspirants in multiple cities. Two were found operational in Patna and Mumbai's Sakinaka in which around 25 jobseekers were being imparted training after being given fake appointment letters, purportedly of various central government departments such as the FCI and the railways, the CBI spokesperson said.
"During the searches at the Sakinaka training centre, most of the jobseekers were found to be from Karnataka while a few were from Maharashtra. Incriminating documents such as fake call letters, fake appointment letters and fake training dossiers were seized," he said.
The CBI found an accomplice of an accused in Bengaluru who was taking two prospective jobseekers inside the GST office purportedly for signing appointment letters to prove genuineness, the spokesperson said and added that this was part of the syndicate's modus operandi. To prove its genuineness, the agency alleged, the syndicate used set up fake training centres in different states and conducted training sessions. "The accused also used to call jobseekers for handing over appointment letters and training call letters at actual government premises to present a genuine set up," the spokesperson said.
"In Mangaluru, the main two kingpin (accused) were also found preparing to setup a new fake training centre for prospective jobseekers. All the three were nabbed," he said. "It was also alleged that accused had conducted fake training of jobseekers at Nagpur (Maharashtra), Dhanbad (Jharkhand), Patna and Buxar (Bihar), and Bengaluru (Karnataka)," the spokesperson said.
The modus operandi of the syndicate was to approach desperate jobseekers who were preparing for central government recruitment examinations, he said. The syndicate had levels and it operated in a manner that no prospective jobseeker could approach the person at the next level for refund of the alleged security deposit or any kind of confirmation of employment, he said. The agency has alleged that the racket developed a thorough system of issuing fake appointment letters, fake call letters for training at various centres and fake documentation of candidates at the training centres.
