The city police on Saturday busted a fake job racket and arrested seven persons, including a Lance Naik posted at the Golconda artillery centre here.
Preliminary investigation by police revealed that the accused duped more than 30 job-seekers from the city and Meerut of Uttar Pradesh of nearly ₹25 lakh by promising them jobs in the Indian Army, Air Force, railways and multinational companies.
Hyderabad Commissioner of Police Anjani Kumar said that Lance Naik V. Ramanjaneyulu (33) was the mastermind behind the racket.
Explaining the gang’s modus operandi, Mr. Kumar said Ramanjaneyulu, along with his associate Syed Hasham, started a real estate business a few years ago. Later, they set up a fake job consultancy named ‘Hike Consultancy’ in Attapur and started cheating job-seekers.
“The duo would cheat unemployed youth by luring them with attractive job placements in the Indian Army, claiming that Ramanjaneyulu had a good rapport with senior officers,” he said. Mr. Kumar said the accused demanded ₹2.5 lakh from each candidate to get jobs.
“They would even conduct a medical examination and send fake appointment letters to the candidates’ residential address by post,” the Commissioner said.
Acting on a tip-off, the Commissioner’s Task Force team of Central Zone apprehended the accused and seized 31 fake call letters, Indian Army rubber stamps, three laptops and 33 original certificates of candidates. The police also seized four uniforms of sub-inspector and police constable rank.
During the course of interrogation, it was revealed that the accused had also tried to obtain counterfeit currency from a Mumbai-based gang led by Dhanaji Dattatry Vishe, Rajendra Ramachandran Bhopatkar and Ankush Dome. The gang had assured them of providing ₹1 crore in counterfeit Indian currency against the payment of ₹24.5 lakh. “On May 1, Ramanjaneyulu went to Mumbai to exchange the currency. However, the Mumbai gang cheated him,” Mr. Kumar said.
The accused were handed over to Langer Houz police for further investigation.
