Lure of job abroad leaves youth Rs 21 lakh poorer

THE greed of landing a plum job abroad may rob you of all your savings and your existing job too.

Lure of job abroad leaves youth Rs 21 lakh poorer

THE greed of landing a plum job abroad may rob you of all your savings and your existing job too.

This is precisely what happened to five hospitality professionals, who were duped of nearly Rs 21 lakh by a consultant who promised them jobs in Canada.

Eight months have passed since the conman ran away with their money, leaving the youth jobless and robbed of their savings.

Dipak Gaikwad

According to the police, Dipak Gaikwad, Sandesh Navre, Oliver, Raju Mistry and Sunim Onium hotel management graduates aged between 24 and 25 working at reputed city hotels met Digambaram Jai Prakash, the head of JSK Consultation, a fledgling consultancy services firm in Malad (East), last August.

Jai Prakash asked for Rs 21 lakh from the five youth and they gave it to him over a period of three months by digging into their life savings. While Gaikwad sold his home to collect Rs 9 lakh, Navre handed over his father's entire pension settlement money of Rs 6 lakh.

"Jai Prakash asked the boys to make some initial deposits and they paid him Rs 21 lakh in installments. But, instead of getting them a job, he closed his office and ran away with the money," said Sub-inspector Jyoti Bhopale of the Dindoshi police, where the youth filed an FIR.

Having quit their jobs in the hope of landing a better one, the youth are now frustrated with the endless wait and Navre even tried to kill himself.

"Unable to bear the pain, I wanted to kill myself at one point. It has been eight months now and the police have not been able to find the man yet. I know my future is doomed," said Navre.

According to the police, the youth were convinced after Jai Prakash had shown them some fake visas of 'clients' he had placed in Malaysia. "They should have been careful before giving so much money to the man.
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Most of the payments were made in cash, so there are no bank records to give us clues. We have learned that the man has cheated many young people in Mumbai, Kerala and Bangalore.

We are investigating the case and will hopefully be able to catch the conman, but with not much evidence, it seems difficult," said Bhopale.