BHUBANESWAR: Khurda police on Thursday arrested a retired and two serving Indian Navy officers for allegedly cheating Agniveer aspirants on the promise of facilitating their recruitment in the armed forces under the Agnipath scheme.
While prime accused Vinay Kumar Ray (Master Chief at Arms-II) is posted in INS Chilka, his associate Satyam Chahar (electrical artificer apprentice-V) is serving on board INS Kesari in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Another accused, identified as Bhooshan, is a former Navy personnel. While Vinay belongs to Bihar, Satyam and Bhooshan are natives of Uttar Pradesh.
Training correspondence officer at INS Chilka, Lieutenant Commander Adwitiya Singh had lodged a complaint with Balugaon police in Khurda alleging he noticed suspicious activities before the training programme of the selected Agniveers began in November, 2024.
During investigation, police found that Vinay had access to the list of candidates selected for various posts like senior secondary recruit (SSR), matric recruit (MR), coast guard navik (general duty) and yantriks (technicians).
Further probe revealed, apart from collecting information from the lists, Vinay along with Satyam and Bhooshan joined various WhatsApp and Telegram groups of Agniveer aspirants. The trio contacted the youths who were already selected and collected `30,000 to `1.20 lakh from them on the promise of ensuring their recruitment into the armed forces.
Police suspect at least 15 to 20 unsuspecting youths had given the accused money to cement their chances of getting selected. However, the chats of the three with the aspirants on WhatsApp and Telegram suggest the number of youths duped by them could be much higher, police said.
Police sources said at least two other Navy personnel serving on board INS Kesari are involved in the pan-India scam. The cops have written to the commanding officer of INS Kesari informing them about the duo’s involvement in the fraud.
The investigators are also verifying whether Vinay, Satyam and Bhooshan forged medical certificates and police verification forms to facilitate the selection of certain undeserving candidates. “The three accused targeted mostly the youths who were already selected as Agniveers and contacted them just before the Navy published the recruitment list,” said Khurda SP, Sagarika Nath adding, further investigation is underway.
Four mobile phones have been seized from the accused and they will be sent to the State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFSL) in Bhubaneswar for examination.