Five job seekers abduct two fraudsters in Odisha Capital; both arrested

Bhubaneswar: The Commissionerate Police arrested a youth and brother-in-law on charges of duping job seekers of over Rs 21 lakhs while promising to provide employment at Railways. In further twist into the fraud case, five others were also held for allegedly kidnapping the two job fraudsters after they failed to get back their money that they gave to the duo for Railway jobs.

Based on a complaint filed by the wife of one of the abducted youths, the Tomando Police launched an investigation and the fraud angle came to light, said Prakash Chandra Pal, ACP (Zone-6) of the Commissionerate Police.

Reportedly, one Samarajit rout and brother-in-law Soumya Ranjan Rout were collecting money from job seekers on the promise of providing Railway Jobs. Consequently five youths fell into the trap of Samarajit and Soumya Ranjan and paid over Rs 21 lakhs in phases to them.

The five youths were unsuspicious about the activities of Samarajit and Soumya Ranjan intially. The job seekers underwent interviews at star hotels and medical test, and received appointment letter and ID card through postal.

Samarajit and Soumya Ranjan did not leave any stone unturned to defraud the five youths. The two fraudsters sent the five job seekers to railway stations outside the State for trainings as well. The five youths were allowed to put signature on station registers and given stipends, though not regularly.

But, somehow the five youths were unconvinced about the job offer. They asked Samarajit and Soumya Ranjan to return their money, following which the duo started avoiding them.

After much persuasion, when the five youths found no chance to get back of their money from Samarajit and Soumya Ranjan, they kidnapped the duo.

Pal added the mobile phone from which the five youths made calls to the complainant was tracked and their location was traced to Chandrasekharpur area. The five youths later handed over the duo to the Chandrasekharpur police station.

“We were sent to Dhanbad station for training. Also, we were given salaries in cash. However, the salary amount was quite less as compared to what promised to us. We were also putting signature on the attendance register of the Eastern Railway,” said Durga Prasad Rath, one of the five job seekers.

The police suspect an oragnised racket is behind the job fraud and details will be known once Samarajit and Soumya Ranjan were taken on remand for questioning. Involvement of Railway employees in the fraud cannot be ruled out, said police sources.