Two AR constables among four held in job racket

CP cautions youth against falling prey to cheats

Police Commissioner J. Purnachandra Rao showing the fake identity card used to cheat job seekers, at a media conference in Visakhapatnam on Friday. Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam

Four persons, including two Armed Reserve (AR) constables, have been arrested on the charge of cheating gullible youth by promising them jobs in the Railways.

The accused — P. Neha Sajith (27), a married woman from Vizianagaram, B. Surya Prakasha Rao (43) and K. Srinivasa Rao (40), both AR constables in Visakhapatnam district, and K. Satyanarayana (46), a waterman at the Police Training College in Vizianagaram, hit upon a plan to make easy money.

The prime accused Neha donned the role of a ‘file manager’ in the Indian Railway Services (a non-existent service in the Railways) while the other three made unemployed youth believe that they could get jobs in the Railways through the ‘IRS officer’. They took the gullible youths to the ‘officer’ and even produced her fake ‘IRS identity card’ to win the confidence of the unsuspecting youth. They had collected Rs. 1 lakh from each candidate, Police Commissioner J. Purnachandra Rao told a media conference in Vizag on Friday.

Though the accused neither provided them jobs nor returned the amount, the victims were not keen on complaining to the police as they had committed a mistake by trying to secure jobs through wrong means. But one of them M. Ramu (31), a private schoolteacher in Rajam mandal of Srikakulam district, lodged a complaint with the PM Palem police on September 25.

During the course of investigation, the police arrested all the four accused on Thursday and recovered Rs. 3 lakh in cash, 18.4 tolas of gold ornaments, two cars, which were allegedly purchased by Neha with the amount collected from the victims, 21 ‘railway application forms’, and seven cellphones. Mr. Purnachandra Rao warned job seekers against falling prey to such cheats. Recruitment would be done by the Railway Recruitment Boards and no gang could provide even a ‘gangman’ post in the Railways.

He called upon the other victims to come forward and lodge complaints. He commended PM Palem inspector Venkata Rao and City Task Force SI Swamy Naidu for their prompt action, which led to the arrest of the accused. Assistant Commissioner of Police (Madhurawada) K. Rajendra Rao was present.