In a suspected fake employment drive, around 400 student software developers, the majority of them Keralites, were allegedly cheated by an IT company after recruiting them last month by collecting Rs 20,000 from each person. Some of the students have registered petitions with Online Consumer Forum and the police against the company.
Rohit Nair from Palakkad who was allegedly cheated by the company told ‘City Express’ that he attended a recruitment drive conducted by Basier IT systems at Kochi in June. The officials of the company asked all the recruited persons to pay an amount of `20,000 in the name of Elite Career Services at Punjab National Bank on DH Road and promised to refund the amount once the training period is over. “When enquired the company is registered at the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in the name of ‘Basier IT Systems Private Limited (CINU72200AP2012PTC081816 and registration number 081816. So there was nothing to doubt. They had recruited nearly 250 students for Bangalore unit and nearly 150 students for Pune and Kochi,” Rohit said. The offer letter stated that they will be paid Rs 17,500 per month during the training period. “Many of them joined the training session in Pune and Bangalore. But all closed in a month’s time. We have not received the salary as they promised us to pay us by July 28. When we demand our salary they keep extending the date by 2-3 days and now they say we would get our pay on September 12. The reason they say is that Punjab National Bank is taking a lot of time in processing our salary account,” Rohit said. The bank informed that it had processed the salary account of the first 170 candidates, but the company till now has not even credited the minimum amount which is required to activate he account and provide ATM cards. Punjab National Bank has said that they will not process any further accounts of the next list of students till the company pays the minimum salary account amount.
“Last week our training institute Cannypro Solutions in Bangalore also stopped training us due to lack of payment by Basier IT Systems. Even though we tried to contact the MD and other officials they are not answering the phone. Later, we came to know that the company has stopped its operations in Kochi. Some of the employees have sent us a mail with the copy of the PAN card of the MD Desiraju Anirudh. They said that the MD is missing and the money would be returned by September 12,” Rohit said.
The students have approached Ernakulam Central police station on Tuesday for registering a complaint against the company. When ‘City Express’ also attempted to contact the officials of the company at 8089021330,7 207309003,9656876686 all were switched off. Police said that they would initiate a probe into the matter.