Mumbai: Five people have been arrested in Thane for cheating youth into paying money by promising jobs in government departments.
The prime accused, Dinesh Lahare, has two cases against him, said Crime Branch officers.
Mr. Lahare was arrested after the father of one of his victims filed a complaint with the Naupada police. Mr. Lahare had gone missing after taking ₹17.5 lakh from him to get the complainant’s son a job in the Public Works Department. Despite several attempts for over a year, the complainant could not reach him.
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The police received a tip-off that Mr. Lahare would be coming near Ganesh Talkies in Thane.
“We picked him up in the early hours of November 24. He confessed to have cheated 31 youths to the tune of ₹83.5 lakh by promising them jobs in departments like the Railways, irrigation, postal, police, PWD, and the Maharashtra State Electricity Board,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Makarand Ranade.
Based on Mr. Lahare’s interrogation, four of his accomplices, identified as Vinay Dalvi (52), Shankar Kolse (42), Ramesh Devre (52), and Praveen Gupta (29) were arrested over the next three days.
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The police said the four were given the job of finding unemployed youths and bringing them to Mr. Lahare.
Crime Branch sleuths raided Mr. Lahare’s residence in Bhandup and found forged appointment letters and 33 rubber stamps of various government departments.
“Following Mr. Lahare’s arrest, several of his victims contacted us and the number has gone up to 61. We are making inquiries with each of them to find out more about his modus operandi and the amount of money he has made through the scam,” said a Crime Branch officer.
Mr. Lahare was booked by the Sangamner and the Kotwali police in Ahmednagar for allegedly cheating people by promising to obtain licence to run liquor stores. The Thane police have contacted their Ahmednagar counterparts to get details.