Crook who duped jobseekers using fake letterheads of Prithviraj Chavan arrested after trying to con Mantralaya officials into making policy changes
As chief minister, Prithviraj Chavan has sundry responsibilities and an unenviable workload. But, he certainly didn’t authorise Jeetendra Bandhu Bhosale to share the burden. Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested the conman who cheated people by promising them jobs using fake letterheads of the CM. Bhosale even submitted one such letter to the Mantralaya, asking officials to extend sixth pay commission’s recommendations to 522 employees and also make them permanent. That’s when his luck ran out.
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Crime Branch has also recovered a letter pad with fake signature of chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, Rs 88,000 in cash and a mobile phone. According to the police, Bhosale used to assure people jobs in government organisations for posts of group C and D employees.
“He would tell aspirants he had a close relationship with the chief minister and can get them government jobs through his contacts,” said an officer from Crime Branch.
Brimming with confidence, Bhosale recently approached the Mantralaya’s medical education department that takes care of salaries and recruitment at government colleges, dental colleges and hospitals. “He met Pradnya Gharte who works with the department and gave her a letter signed by the ‘chief minister’ that said group C and D employees, 522 of them, should be made permanent and given sixth pay commission benefits,” said the officer.
However, Gharte realised that the assembly was yet to pass a bill on the issue and so a letter from the chief minister with regards to the matter was highly unexpected. She then informed her seniors, who approached Marine Drive police and registered a complaint against an unknown person.
“During investigations we zeroed in on Bhosale and finally arrested him. We have found out that he has taken money from four people, but we suspect he has snared lakhs of rupees from individuals and has cheated them by promising employment in government organisations,” the officer added. Bhosale has been remanded in police custody till July 17.u00a0