A 28-year-old school dropout from Kasaragod is the focus of a police investigation into a railway recruitment racket that spans Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
The police case against Shamim, the only son of lower middle class parents from Kanhangad, is that he had defrauded at least 300 persons of an estimated ₹10 crore under the pretext of using his influence as a “Chief Examiner of the South Western Railways” to get various jobs in the public utility.
The police arrested him from Kazhakuttam here on Thursday.
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A senior investigator said Shamim had picked up English, French, and Chinese while working as a cook in a restaurant frequented by foreigners at Mattancherry in Fort Kochi.
He did a brief stint as a waiter in a railway pantry car.
He used the time to develop a deep understanding of Railways, its systems, recruitment and hierarchy.
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Jobs on offer
The police said Shamim started spreading the word that he could get railway jobs for cash.
The positions for sale included that of the assistant station master, junior engineer, ticket collector, electronics engineer, civil engineer, assistant station master and nurse at railway hospitals.
Several qualified persons, who came to know about the opportunity through word of mouth, contacted Shamim. The police said Shamim downloaded question papers issued by the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) in the past years along with their answer keys.
‘Make mistakes’
They said Shamim asked job aspirants to appear for the examination at private halls he hired in Bengaluru, Secunderabad, Vijayawada, and Salem.
The suspect handed the candidates the question papers along with the answer key. “He would instruct them to make some deliberate mistakes to avoid giving examiners the impression that they had cheated the test,” an investigator said.
Fake fitness papers
The police said Shamim would then issue them forged medical fitness certificates and collect cash, ranging from ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakh depending on the position, to pay ‘higher-ups.’
The accused would continue to liaison with those he had duped to maintain the impression he was earnest in his dealings.
He asked many to wait for several months to get the RRB’s advice memo asking them to join the service. When the memo never arrived, he would pacify his anxious victims by saying that the Railway Vigilance was alert and everybody had to lie low.
He also returned the money of a few insistent persons to maintain his cover.
Police complaint
The fraud came to light when the police received complaints from duped persons. Shamim’s alleged victims have now launched two WhatsApp groups with more than 200 members.
Commissioner P. Prakash; Dy.SP V. Suresh Kumar; Circle Inspector S.Y. Suresh Kumar; SI, Kazhakuttam, Sudheesh; ASIs Arun Kumar and Yasodharan investigated the case. Shamim has been remanded in judicial custody.