Pune: Police, Army Bust Fraudulent Recruitment Racket For Government Jobs
Mubarak Ansari
Pune, 2nd June 2021: A fraudulent recruitment module involving the issuance of recruitment documents and circulation of results of prospective candidates through fake websites, for their selection into various government services like railways, banking and territorial army etc, being run from Pune, was busted jointly by Army and Pune City Police on a tip-off provided by the Southern Command Liaison Unit (SCLU) of the Military Intelligence (MI).
The module had recently hosted a fake website of Territorial Army (hqterritorialarmy.in) with uploaded names of selected candidates on it. The investigation further revealed that they were charging a hefty amount for the fraudulent recruitment from innocent aspirants wanting to join various Government services. The aspirants were not only charged for their selection but also were made to bear the expenses of travel, boarding and lodging during their trips to different dubious locations for fraudulent written exams, medical tests and training post the fraudulent recruitment.
Based on information from the SCLU, Pune Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta instructed Additional CP (Crime) Ashok Morale and DCP (Crime) Shriniwas Ghadge to nab the accused persons. Accordingly, Senior Police Inspector Hemant Patil of Crime Branch Unit 5 formed teams to arrest the accused.
On the intervening night of 31 May and 01 June 21, one of the kingpin Bharat Krishna Kate of Rajure in Sangola taluka of Solapur district, was apprehended from Solapur, along with ample evidence, by a team from the Crime Branch. The accused were charging Rs 4 to 7 lakhs from the aspiring candidates giving them false promises for their selection in government services. The innocent aspirants were made to believe about their selection through fake call letters, admit cards, joining letters, medicals and training at dubious locations. The duo is part of a bigger racket that is being probed by the Crime Branch and Army, police said.
An officer told Punekar News, “Kate runs an academy of Army pre-recruitment training. The accused charged Rs six lakh under pretext of helping youths get recruited in the Army. He took Rs seven lakh for job of ticket checker (TC) in the railways. The amount was paid in installments. The accused had sent some youths for medical tests in Delhi, Jhansi, Lucknow, Jabalpur and other places. Later, their recruitment results were declared on the fake website. Till now we have got complaints from youths who have paid Rs 13.5 lakh to the accused.”
Based on the complaints, an FIR has been registered against the accused persons at Mundhwa police station. Teams have been sent to various states to arrest other accused.
In a statement, Army said, “The joint proactive action of Southern Command and the Maharashtra police is reflective of Army’s zero-tolerance towards corruption. Candidates are once again advised not to fall prey to these inimical elements and report any such luring incidents to Army authorities immediately.”
The investigation is being carried out by a team comprising Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime 2) Laxman Borate, Inspector Hemant Patil, Assistant Police Inspectors Santosh Tasgaonkar, Prasad Lonare and police policemen Ramesh Sable, Mahesh Waghmare, Pravin Kalbhor, Deepak Landge, Ajay Gaikwad, Dattatraya Thombre, Amar Ugle, Pramod Tillekar, Dawood Sayyed, Vishal Bhilare, Chetan Chavan, Sanjay Kumar Dalvi and Pathak.
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