Interstate job fraud: Odisha cops nab one more accused from Andhra

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha police has arrested one more accused in connection with an interstate job fraud.

Accused Akashpu Veera Chaitanya (26), son of Akashpu Basava Raju, was arrested from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh yesterday. He was brought to Odisha on transit remand and produced in a designated court in Cuttack, said the EOW.

The EOW had earlier arrested three persons Mohammad Sanaullah and Sakshi Jain of Hyderabad and Surath Dalai of Balasore in Odisha in connection with the job fraud. It had registered a case in this regard under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC and Section 66 (D) of the IT Act.

Chaitanya in cahoots with Sanaullah, Jain and Dalai had floated fake recruitment advertisements in local Dailies of several states. The advertisements were published in the name of a fake organization ‘Aided Schools Welfare Society’.

Through the advertisements published in a leading Odia Daily, the organization had invited applications from eligible candidates for non-teaching posts like development officer, welfare officer, school supervisor, clerk, attendant and watchman in aided schools of Odisha.

The advertisements had offered good salaries, in the range of Rs 28,000-Rs 40,000 per month, for the above mentioned posts and announced reservation and age relaxation for candidates of certain communities to attract the gullible youths, said the EOW.

The accused had opened a fake website (www.modelschools.ac) and collected Rs 1,000 from each aspirant.

The job fraud racket was in operation in at least six states—Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

The accused had collected around Rs 1.7 crore as application fees from job aspirants in these states through bank accounts. The amount was later withdrawn through ATM cards.

“Our officials have seized a laptop, three mobile phones, four pen drives, one hard disc, debit cards, cheque books and other incriminating articles from Chaitanya,” said the EOW.