Have you ever been so desperate for a job that you’re willing to do whatever it takes to get it? Pledged your wife’s jewellery, borrowed from a loan shark for high interest rates, or emptied your bank account to pay a guy that promised you a ‘big dream’ job, only to have him cheat you out of your money? In these hi-tech days when jobs are advertised all over the internet, and you have plethora of options through word of mouth and social networking sites, it seems finding a job continues to be a gamble with people losing a lot more than they bargained for!
Case in point is S Rajasekaran (34), a resident of Urapakkam, who has been driving a taxi for the last five years. He has a friend who was desperately seeking a job for his wife. It was in mid-August 2014, during a visit to the Secretariat that he and his friend met Rubin, who claimed to be a typist there. They asked Rubin if there were any job vacancies.
Rubin said there was a vacancy for the post of an office assistant at the Madras High Court, and the appointment order would be given within seven days. “He said the job would cost `7 lakh. Since he was a staff at the secretariat I did not expect him to cheat. All this happened in front of the under-secretary; so we believed him,” said Rajasekaran.
Happy at the prospect of his wife getting a job, his friend agreed to pay `5 lakh. Initially, they gave `1 lakh as advance to Rubin and a few days later, gave another lakh. They promised to give the rest when she receives the appointment order.
Several days passed but the duo did not hear from Rubin. Every time, they tried to contact him he would say the process was on and would be finished in a few hours. “Not once did he say the work was cancelled or pending. Every time, he’d say the order is ready and that it just needs to be signed. Even then, I continued to believe him,” explained Rajasekaran. Some three months passed, and there was no word from Rubin. He continued to be evasive and that’s when Rajsekaran questioned him. “I asked him reason for the delay. He knew I was getting suspicious; so he immediately showed me an ad in a Tamil newspaper which said there is an interview for the post of office assistant at the Madras High Court. I still wasn’t convinced. So I made him sign in a stamp paper that he had promised to get my friend’s wife a job at the Secretariat and taken cash from me. I regained a bit of my confidence then,” he added.
Little did Rajasekaran know his woes were far from over. “After a few days, there was a call for an interview at the Madras High Court. My friend and I learnt that there were 36 vacancies, but only 20 were selected on the spot,” he said. When they called Rubin, he asked them to wait. “We waited for nearly four hours but in vain. We had given the money seven months ago and nothing had come out of it. We realised we were being cheated.”
Rajasekaran wanted an explanation, and was determined to get one. For more than year, he’d wait all day every day in front of the Secretariat to meet him. “I make `1,500 a day by driving taxi. But I couldn’t drive or think of anything else other than meeting him and asking him for answers,” rued Rajasekaran. “At one point my friend became desperate for the money; so I had to sell all of my wife’s jewellery to repay the money. Now not only did I lose all the money, but I lost my friend too.”
Refusing to play the victim, he approached the police at the Commissioner’s office but there again, it was another battle. “They directed me to the police station at the Secretariat who refused to accept a formal complaint,” he recalled. “I was made to wait everyday at the police station and finally, they convinced me to take back the case and settle for lesser money. After much pressure, Rubin returned `45,000. When I asked for the rest, he didn’t respond properly.”
Very soon, however, he received a call from a couple — Rex Kannan and his wife, Kavitha —who claimed to be Rubin’s relatives. “The couple said they will take up the responsibility of settling the money. But even after a month, they did not respond to my calls or return the cash. So I spent `20,000 to hire a lawyer and have filed a petition with the Madras High Court,” he said. Knowing what we know about the courts, it looks like he’d be waiting for a long time.
But Rajasekaran, inconsolable as he is, has faith in the justice system. “I lost everything…peace of mind, my friend and the trust my family had in me, but the person who cheated me is enjoying life. I want the courts to give me justice” he said hopefully.
Rajasekaran used to make Rs 1,500 a day driving his taxi. But after Rubin refused to answer his queries, he stopped driving.
For several months, he’d spend every day waiting outside the Secretariat to meet Rubin. He had no money to buy food, and survived just on tea and biscuits
‘I Want Justice’
Rajasekharan is willing to fight it out in the courts. He has received a CSR report and says he will file an FIR in a couple of days.