Hyderabad: The Special Operations Team (SOT) and LB Nagar police arrested seven people from Kadapa district and Hyderabad on Wednesday for allegedly duping several people on the pretext of providing them a government job. The police have yet to confirm the number of people defrauded by the gang.
The arrested have been identified by as Swathi Reddy, Shivaranjani (30), Azeemuddin (24), Jagdish (39), Ramesh (47), Khalid (37) Madhusudhan (38), and Obula Reddy (50). The police refused to give further details about them as their accomplices are yet to be arrested.
On 24 February, the police received a written complaint from a student that he has been cheated by a private job consultancy firm based in the city. The complainant informed them that he had been deceived by the gang.
In the police compliant, he alleged that the company intimated the accuser to provide a government job in the Railways, Postal and Forest departments. “The gang has trained over eight students and collected Rs. 6.5 lakh on the ruse of providing a government job without an entrance examination via backdoor entry. They even issued an appointment letter to us. When we realised that it was a fake letter, it was too late. We tried to contact them but they did not respond,” said the complainant.
The complainant further alleged that the accused asked him to bring Rs. 12.5 lakh as a security amount to the interview. “The interview was conducted in a hotel located near the CBS bus stand in Secunderabad. My interview was taken by Radhakrishna posing as a Railway official in the presence of Ramesh Babu, Obula Reddy and Khalid — who all took the money from me. Later, he said that I was selected for a job within the department,” said the complainant.
After realising that he had been defrauded, he approached the LB Nagar police about the alleged scam.
Privy to the investigation, Joint Commissioner of Police—Rachakonda, G. Sudheer Babu, said, “We have arrested seven of the perpetrators on 28 February and are currently interrogating them to find other two accomplices, Balakrishna and Ghouse.”
A case was registered against the accused under section 420 (cheating) 468, 471, R/W 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the LB Nagar and Jawahar Nagar police station on Wednesday.
The police stated that those apprehended thus far have been taken into judicial custody. The main gang leader, Swathi Reddy, is a habitual offender who cheated many innocent students and has cases registered against her in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
The police have seized cash worth Rs. 48.16 lakhs, fabricated appointment letters seemingly from the Railway, Postal and Forest departments, 25 sham service books, four false government stamps, three forged identity cards, 40 unused new service books, 10 mobile phones, Railway Department’s envelop covers, two pen drives and student application forms.
SIASAT NEWS