Mumbai Crime: Cops find letter addressed to dean of JJ hospital; nab fourth accused

One of the accused caught in the case had been working for 15 years at Mantralaya. File pic/Ashish Raje

The interrogation of the three men arrested for allegedly running a job racket at Mantralaya has revealed that they forged a letter for their victims' medical exam at JJ hospital, cops said on Wednesday. Also, they called the aspirants during citizens' visiting hours and conducted their interviews only after the officials left for the day, they added.

The Unit 6 of Mumbai police's Crime Branch has found the letter that the accused forged in the name of the General Administration Department (GAD). The letter was addressed to the dean of JJ hospital, seeking to conduct the medical examination of the job aspirants.

The police have filed an FIR against three accused--Nitin Sathe, Sachin Dolas, Mahadev Shirwale, while they nabbed their fourth accomplice, Mahendra Sakpal, from Chembur on Wednesday night. Dolas worked as a peon in GAD, Mantralaya. Together, they had duped 12 job aspirants to the tune of R63.60 lakh.

"Sakpal and Shirwale were given the task of roping in the aspirants. They would find the victims mostly through common contacts, who do not know how the government recruitment actually takes place. The accused men exuded confidence through their body language and mannerisms, making the aspirants fall prey to their false promises," said an officer from the Crime Branch.

Also read: Mumbai: FIR filed against four people for allegedly running job racket from within Mantralaya

As part of the fraud they were running, the accused would ask their victims to undergo a medical exam at JJ hospital. And for that purpose, they had "forged a letter on the GAD letterhead, which Nitin Sathe had signed as the secretary. The letter was addressed to the dean of JJ hospital, asking to conduct the medical exam of the aspirants."

"The medical exam of the 12 aspirants was carried out based on this letter. We have the forged letter in our possession," the officer said, adding that some aspirants were asked to undergo the medical exam twice.

After the medical exam, the accused called the aspirants for the interview. "They would be called during the visiting hours of the common people and made to sit in the canteen or the waiting area of Mantralaya. Dolas would facilitate their entry and issue them visitor cards. Once the official work hours would end, Dolas would take the aspirants to a room where Sathe, posing as the GAD secretary, would take their interview," said Ravindra Salunkhe, in-charge, Crime Branch Unit 6. "The interviews always started when all the Mantralaya employees left," he stressed.

The cops said that the accused are trying to put the blame on each other, by claiming that the other is the mastermind of the racket. During the questioning, the accused told the Crime Branch that they spent all the money.

As Dolas had been working at Mantralaya for 15 years, the cops were grilling him to know how long they had been cheating people.