Ex-armyman caught redhanded in job racket
CHENNAI: A retired army officer was caught red-handed by the Army Intelligence on Friday as he was allegedly accepting money from three youth who are aspiring to join the Army. S Jayakumar, 52, who retired from the Army as a Subedar-major in 2015, was surrounded by the Army Intelligence Officers at the Tiruvananthapuram railway station as he was accepting the money.
“He retired from the medical department and had served for nearly 30 years. He had demanded `3 lakh from each of the candiates to get them recruited as jawans,” an Army officer privy to the case told Express.
A resident of Peyad, a suburb of the Kerala’s capital city, Jayakumar is said to have contacted four youths, who hail from the Alleppey district, through an auto driver.
“The driver noticed the youths regularly taking physical training on a ground and approached him. He had told them that he knew Jayakumar, who has much influence in the Army and can get them selected if they are willing to pay `5 lakh,” said the officer. On meeting them, Jayakumar offered to reduce the amount to `3 lakh.
“He advised them to put special symbols like ‘om’ in the answer sheets,” the officer said. The Army Intelligence found out something amiss when these four youths took the written test in July.
On questioning, they found out about Jayakumar involved in cheating such aspirants who are trying to join the army.
Out of the four candidates, three had themselves qualified in the exams. But to catch Jayakumar, the Army Intelligence officers decided to set a trap and asked the three selected candidates to contact Jayakumar, offering to pay him `9 lakh.
When Jayakumar reached the Thiruvananthapuram railway station at around 3 pm on Friday, he was caught red-handed by the sleuths who were waiting, according to the source. Jayakumar is being questioned in the Thampanoor police station and further investigations are on.