Mumbai: The Bazarpeth police in Kalyan have arrested a Mumbai resident for allegedly cheating unemployed people by promising them jobs abroad and taking money from them as charges for preparing visas.
According to the police, five residents of Kalyan had complained to them about having been cheated by the accused, who identified himself only as Khanbhai. The man claimed to have an overseas recruitment firm named Prerna Consultancy, and would approach the victims through mutual friends and other methods. He would tell them there were well-paying jobs available in locations like Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and take anything between ₹10,000 and ₹20,000 from them, along with their passports.
“He would tell the victims that he would contact them after their visas and appointment letters were ready, and would go incommunicado. When the victims were unable to contact him, they approached us. We obtained a list of all the contact numbers that he had given them when he first met them,” said a police officer.
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The police then obtained registration details and cellular locations of the contact numbers and traced the accused, who was identified as Mohammed Tariq Khan (22), to his residence in Cheetah Camp, Trombay.
“During a search of Mr. Khan’s residence, we found ₹1.29 lakh in cash and 26 passports, including those belonging to the five victims who had approached us. The evidence, along with the results of Mr. Khan’s preliminary questioning, indicates that he has similarly cheated several other jobseekers in the past. We suspect that he has scammed scores of people in Thane, Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. Our teams are currently working on finding moresuch people,” the officer said.
The police have also found appointment letters on letterheads of reputed companies like ACC, Camel India and Larsen and Toubro Ltd. The authorities at these companies will soon be contacted to verify the authenticity of the letters.
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Mr. Khan has been charged with cheating and forgery under the Indian Penal Code.