Man duped people on the pretext of offering a job in Indian Railways

The accused

The Crime Branch on Monday arrested a 25-year-old conman, who posed as a Railway Job employer in order to dupe government job aspirants. The accused is a beneficiary of an alleged racket that dupes people on the pretext of offering a job in the Indian Railways. So far eight complaints have been registered against the racket, and the amount is estimated to be more than Rs 20 lakh, claims the police.

Agripada Police on April 5, 2019, registered a case against 3 persons for cheating on the pretext of a job in Indian Railways. The case was registered based on the complaint filed by a-26 year-old Architecture Engineer Santosh Ade, resident of Kalyan, who alleged that a conman named Rahul had duped him of Rs 1,25,000 on the pretext of a job in the Indian Railways. He also alleged that Rahul, who claimed himself to be an employee of Indian Railways, had promised to offer a post of a Junior Engineer in the Railways in exchange of Rs 25 lakh.

The accused also assured him that everything will be legal and if at all he feels he does not want to proceed ahead, he can avail the entire amount back. The victim agreed to the terms and paid Rs 1 lakh sharing all his documents. Upon receiving the documents and cash, the accused provided a number and asked him to check it on www.rrcbgon.in claiming it as an official recruitment website. When the victim checked the website, he found his name across the number which the accused had assigned to him. The website showed that the victim was listed in the Kolkata zone.

The victim also visited the accused at a railway station in Pune district, where he introduced another person named Santosh. The accused claimed that Santosh also got the job through his contact and asked the victim to transfer Rs 8.85 lakh into Santosh's account. Following which, the victim was called for a medical check-up in Kolkata on June 1, 2018. Soon after a medical check-up, the victim received a fitness certificate letter via WhatsApp. He yet again paid Rs 25, 000 to the accused, as per the police official.

The victim then received an appointment letter on WhatsApp. He was told that he will be assigned to the Kolkata branch shortly. The victim realised he was duped when he tried to contact the accused and his associates. The victim then visited the Railway office at CSMT, where he came to know that all letterheads sent to him were fake, and the website on which he checked his recruitment status was fake too. The victim then approached the Agripada police to file a complaint against the accused.

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"After registering the complaint, we started the inquiry. We came across a person named Santosh Jamnik (25), who is from Akola district of Maharashtra. The accused had claimed himself to be a temporary railway employee," said Sanjay Nikumbe, Inspector of Crime Branch unit 3.

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"The accused was acting as a beneficiary of the racket making people believe that if they pay Rahul money, he can give them a railway job," he added. "We have arrested the accused and the money trail is reflecting in his account as well," said Nikumbe.

Santosh Jamnik and his 2 associates have been booked under IPC 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security) 468 (forgery on purpose of cheating), 471 (posing forged document as genuine), 34 (common intention) and relevant sections of IT Act.

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