Desire for job in Singapore costs carpenter over Rs 2 lakh

This picture has been used for representational purpose

A carpenter's desire to earn more money via a job in Singapore proved costly when he got conned of Rs 2.20 lakh in the process. The Dharavi police have booked a person for cheating him on the pretext of giving him a job.

Dhananjay Vishwakarma, 31, is a resident at 90 Feet Road, Dharavi. In September 2018, he received a call from one Durgesh Sharma, who said he was looking out for carpenters for a job in Singapore. He told Vishwakarma that he would have to pay Rs 2.50 lakh to receive the job, but as the salary was Rs 1.50 lakh per month he would recover it in a few months.

Vishwakarma revealed that he was instructed by Sharma to go to Amritsar on September 11, 2018, and from there he would be taken to Malaysia before finally reaching Singapore. He shelled out Rs 40,000 for a work visa and the air fare.

Asked to pay more

On September 11, Vishwakarma further paid another Rs 90,000 in Amritsar to a person identified as Monu. He was also told to deposit Rs 50,000 into the account of Shobhavati, Sharma's wife. He also met Nitesh Sharma, Pramod Yadav and Ravishankar Yadav - other carpenters who were also travelling to Singapore.

They were taken to Malaysia on September 12 and were informed by Sharma that they would be trained in a hotel and that their stay there would be free. But the next day, the hotel staff asked them to pay for their food bills. They were also informed that the arrangements for their stay weren't made by anyone. That's when they realised that they had been cheated.

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"Sharma switched off his mobile phone, which further confirmed that he had cheated me. I borrowed money from a few relatives and returned to India on September 16," said Vishwakarma, who then filed a complaint with the police.

"We conducted an investigation and then filed a complaint against Durgesh Sharma and others under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 34 (common intention) on August 6, 2019," said a senior police official from Dharavi police station.

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