R.P. Chandrasekar, a well-educated youth from Pennalurpet village, Uthukottai, was looking for a government job. In 2018, a person who called himself Kiruba promised him a job in Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) for payment of a fee. The job aspirant paid ₹21 lakh in many instalments through RTGS. So far, he has got neither the job nor the money back.
In February, K. Malliga, 65, of Indira Nagar, Tiruttani, was on a tour to Puducherry. A couple, Iyappan and his wife Manjula, became friends with her during the journey. The couple pretended to be influential and promised her a teacher’s post at a government school. The woman immediately sold her seven sovereigns of jewellery and paid the couple ₹2 lakh. The duo failed to get the job and threatened the woman when she demanded her money back.
In 2018, D. Sathyaraj, 29, Bommarajipet, Pallipet, was introduced to a few people at Tiruvallur railway station. Sathyaraj and five others paid ₹2 lakh each to Pushparaj as he assured office assistant posts in Southern Railway, Chennai Division. Likewise, 40 candidates have paid ₹2 crore for jobs. Pushparaj and his associates were arrested by police in August. Similarly, more than a dozen cases of job fraud are under investigation of District Crime Branch, Tiruvallur.
Tiruvallur SP R.V. Varunkumar said some youth are desperate to get a government post by any means, even by paying bribes. Making use of this, some fraudsters, who collect details of aspirants from any job portal or social media post and contact them, cheat the candidates. Also the victims who lose money hesitate to lodge a complaint fearing social backlash.
“Now, we are trying to identify those fraudsters and arrest them besides initiating appropriate legal action to save the youth from falling prey to fraudsters. We have launched an operation — ‘job scam-clean up’ — to crackdown on fraudsters. Special hunt will be launched to nab the accused. The victims can directly approach me with their complaints. The cases will be immediately booked and action taken,” said Mr. Varunkumar
Those who are not able to come in person can contact the SP on the phone (6379904848) and send WhatsApp messages, said the police.
