A massive confidence trick on jobseekers in the name of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has come to light with an engineering graduate who ‘applied and appeared for a test and an interview and given an appointment order from the RBI’ narrating her tale. She said over two lakh candidates from various parts of India attended the first rounds of examinations.
Reema Merlin Panicker said she had applied for the job on seeing a newspaper advertisement calling for applications for the post of Officer Grade B in the RBI. Giving an account of the bizarre incidents at a press meet here on Friday, Ms. Panicker said she had filed a complaint with the Superintendent of Police, Kottarakara. N.K. Premachandran, Kollam MP, was present at the press meet.
Ms. Panicker said she had submitted an online application for the ‘job’ and transferred ₹820 as fee. Later, an examination was conducted at MES Institute of Technology and Management, Chathannur, on June 17, 2017. It was followed by another examination. “Then I received another mail saying that I have qualified for a personal video conference, which was conducted on August 1. After that, I got the appointment order,” said Ms. Panicker.
‘Exams’ cancelled
As per the order, she was asked to attend a training at the Reserve Bank Staff College in Chennai on November 7. “On December 18, I got another mail that said the training was cancelled owing to the death of the training director of the RBI,” she said.
On February 3, Ms. Panicker was informed that the examinations conducted in June and July were cancelled, and she was requested to appear for another examination. She attended an examination at JSS Institute of Banking, Bengaluru. After two months, she received another mail stating that she had secured eighth rank and an award function for rank holders would be held on April 11 at Marriot Hotel, Kochi. “But the staff there told us they had no booking by the RBI. Then we decided to approach the RBI in Thiruvananthapuram and the officials there confirmed that all the documents we carried were fake,” she said.
During the time, she had qualified for jobs in four other banks, including the State Bank of India, but rejected the offers since she preferred the RBI. Ms. Panicker said the mails were from the id rbi.org.nic.in and as per instructions, she had forwarded copies of identity cards and bank account details.
Probe to be sought
Mr. Premachandran said he would seek a probe into the incident. Since they used the name of the RBI, a complaint will be forwarded to the RBI governor first.”
