Kolkata: Three people, including current and retired Railway employees, were arrested in a joint operation conducted by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) to crack the fake recruitment racket operating in Kharagpur.
Several complaints were received regarding a fake recruitment racket being operated in the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) office in Kharagpur. It was suspected that both Railway employees and outsiders were involved in the racket. As per the complaints, it was found that a 35-year-old woman identified as Sabina Khatoon alias Sweety, resident of Kharagpur, was in contact with individuals seeking jobs in the Railway. Based on the available information, a special team was formed.
Two informants were planted, who would contact Sabina seeking jobs in the Railway. Once a contact was established, Sabina told them about her contacts in the DRM office Kharagpur and offered to arrange for the jobs in exchange for Rs 3 lakh. The two informants posing as job seekers were asked to visit the DRM office with documents and Rs 50,000 in cash for processing. Sabina allegedly promised them a meeting with Railway officers and advised them to deposit the documents with another person. On March 28, a joint surveillance and raid operation was conducted by RPF and GRP at the DRM office complex as well as Kharagpur Station area from 10 am. At around 3:15 pm, a victim of a fake Railway appointment racket complained to the RPF team of being cheated by a woman named Sabina.
The joint team intercepted Sabina and recovered Rs 10,000 paid by the victim in instalments. During interrogation, she confessed of her involvement and disclosed the name of a Railway employee Dulab Chinna (49) who works as a Pointsman-B in the Operating department at Nimpura Yard in Kharagpur and a retired Railway employee identified as M Koteshwar Rao (62) as her associates. A case has been registered at GRPS in Kharagpur against all three accused.