BERHAMPUR: Chhatrapur police in Ganjam district on Tuesday arrested a 42-year-old man for allegedly duping an unemployed youth of `50,000 by promising him a job in the State Bank of India (SBI).
The accused is Panchanan Panda, a native of Nadiagaon village under Dhusuri police limits in Bhadrak district. Panda reportedly resided at Old Town in Bhubaneswar.
Ganjam SP Harisha BC said Panda published advertisements in an Odia daily claiming to offer guaranteed jobs in the SBI. The complainant, a job seeker, reportedly contacted him after seeing the advertisement and was allegedly persuaded to pay `50,000 in instalments on different pretexts, including uniform and security deposits.
After receiving the money, the accused allegedly demanded further payment from the youth. When the victim was unable to make the payment, Panda reportedly stopped responding to his calls and became unreachable.
Subsequently, the victim lodged a complaint in Chhatrapur police station basing on which a case was registered. After investigation, police arrested Panda. At least 61 forged appointment letters, 25 fake ID cards of job seekers and nine advertisement letter pads were seized from the accused. Six bank passbooks, two ATM cards, notebooks containing the bio-data of job seekers and passport-size photographs of job aspirants were also recovered by police.
Police said investigation is underway to ascertain the extent of the fake recruitment racket and identify other persons who may have been involved in the fraud.