Military Intelligence, Pune Police Bust Army Recruitment Racket, 3 Persons Including Ex-Servicemen Arrested
Mubarak Ansari
Pune, 28 February 2021: In a joint operation, sleuths from the Military Intelligence (MI) of the Indian Army, and Pune Police Crime Branch Unit 4 have busted an Army recruitment racket at the Bombay Engineer Group and Centre (BEG&C), Khadki. The accused wanted to leak paper of Army relation recruitment being held today.
Every year Indian Army conducts a special recruitment drive for the dependent of Army personnel which is popularly known as Unit Headquarters (UHQ) Quota recruitment or Indian Army relation recruitment.
The arrested persons have been identified as Azad Khan of Ganesh Nagar, Bopkhel, Ali Akhtar who is a native of Gazipur, Uttar Pradesh, currently resided in Vishrantwadi and Mahendra Sonawane of Chincholi Gurav in Satara district. Khan is a civil defence cook at the Bombay Sappers. Akhtar and Sonawane are Ex-Servicemen.
The accused persons have been charged for offences under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The incident took place between February 6 to 28. An FIR has been registered against them at Vishrantwadi police station.
According to police, the accused persons had taken away original documents of the candidates and assured them recruitment with the help of leaked question paper for the common entrance test. They had taken Rs one lakh from the candidate as advance money and one lakh was to be paid after the recruitment. They had also taken his original documents.
A police officer said, “The accused had sent some papers on WhatsApp. They had promised to send the leaked paper a day before the exam ie on Saturday. However, we nabbed them.”
He further said, “The accused had approached the complainant when he had gone to collect admit card at Bombay Sappers. He had already cleared the physical and medical test. The investigation is going on to find out how many candidates have been cheated. The accused persons used to demand Rs three lakh and then negotiate. We have learnt that the accused were in contact with 130 candidates. Further investigation is going on.”
