With the arrest of six persons, Delhi Police have busted a gang of fraudsters which used to cheat young job hunters on the pretext of providing them government jobs under Rajiv Awas Yojna, police said on Saturday.
Interestingly, Rajiv Awas Yojna is actually an Indian Government’s programme which tries to help slum dwellers have access to decent housings. The accused were identified as Samar Malik (26), Manoj Sharma (26), Javed Khan (32), Abhishek Sharma (29), Mohinder Kumar (29), alias, Monu and Sulabh Gulati (23), all residents of Meerut in Western UP. They were arrested by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police on June 10.
“The gang came under the police scanner after it received a reference from the Prime Minister’s Office regarding cheating with youths all over India in the name of providing government jobs under Rajiv Awas Yojana,” said Ravindra Yadav, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime).
According to the police, the gang used to publish advertisements regarding government jobs in leading newspapers across India, conducting fake interviews of the candidates over phone, sending fake/forged appointment letters to such candidates and then inducing these candidates to deposit large amounts in the bank accounts opened on the basis of fake identity documents.
The forged appointment letters issued by the gang had stamps issued by the government. The accused persons would then introduce themselves as senior government officers. Meanwhile, the money deposited by their targets was withdrawn immediately through ATM cards. The gang also ran a fake call centre.
During the probe, technical surveillance was mounted and sources were mobilized to trace the gang. A tip off was received that a racket indulging in cheating innocent people all over India on the pretext of providing government jobs was operating from Ghaziabad.
“On June 10, a raid was conducted at Arjun Nagar, Ghaziabad, and four accused namely Samar Malik, Javed Khan, Abhishek Sharma and Manoj Sharma were apprehended from their office where they were running a fake call centre in the name of Rajiv Awas Yojana to defraud people. On their instance, one co-accused Sulabh Gulati was arrested from Shastri Nagar, Meerut for providing printed forged documents including appointment letters of Rajiv Awas Yojana,” said Yadav.