Rabale police have arrested an ‘engineer’ who cheated people, including a constable, by promising them jobs with the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC).
Abhishek Sanas (25), a resident of Ghansoli, after finishing a Diploma in Engineering around two years ago, never found a job. To earn quick money, he started telling people that he worked with the NMMC as a Class I officer and could help others get a job there.
“He started cheating people from October 2018. He is originally from Satara and hence targetted people from his native place, who stayed in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. Money varied as per the position of the job. The amount he asked for a junior clerk’s job was ₹60,000. Once the payment was done, the accused would give victims a fake letter with the logo of the NMMC, which would say that the person was selected for the training,” sub inspector Sachin Powar from Rabale police station said.
He would take the ‘applicant’ to any road where the NMMC would be carrying out repair works and ask him to observe and take notes. “The victim was led to believe that he was being trained for the position of supervisor and would go to the ‘site’ for many consecutive days. The board at the ‘site’, with NMMC’s name would make them believe that the training programme was undertaken by the NMMC,” Mr. Powar said.
Mr. Sanas would also take the victims to the NMMC, make them wait at the ground floor while he would go inside any random department, roam about and come back to make it look like he worked there.
Later when the victims would ask when they could join office, Mr. Sanas would give them vague replies. When he started avoiding their calls, saying he was in a meeting with the Commissioner or at a site visit, the complainants went to the NMMC to verify if he worked there and found he did not.
Mr. Sanas was an only child and raised by a single mother, who worked as a teacher, the police said.
After the victims started visiting his house to demand the money back, his mother learned about his actions and asked him to leave the house. “He splurged the money in dance bars and stayed in a lodge after leaving home. We arrested him from Ghansoli and he has been remanded in police custody till January 25,” Mr. Powar said.
Until now, five people who have been collectively cheated of ₹3.50 lakh, have approached the police, who suspect there may be more who have been cheated.
