THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Travancore Titanium job scam is turning out to be of larger dimension than what was previously thought as the police have registered two more cases in connection with fleecing of lakhs of rupees from job aspirants on the pretext of providing them jobs in the state-owned firm. The Cantonment police have registered two fresh cases on the basis of the complaints of two people that they were conned of Rs 10 lakh and Rs 7 lakh, respectively.
Together, the police have so far registered seven cases in connection with the job fraud. The latest complainants are Thiruvananthapuram natives, who claimed they were conned by Divya Jyothi, who is the prime accused in the case. Divya was arrested on Sunday by Venjaramoodu police, which is probing another job fraud case filed by a person, who lost Rs 15 lakh in the scam. The Poojappura police, meanwhile, is probing two cases in which Rs 12 and Rs 10 lakh were allegedly swindled from the complainants, respectively.
The sources said taking into account the seriousness of the case, a special police team would be formed to launch a comprehensive probe in all the cases related to the scam. The sources added that involvement of other Titanium officials in the scam would also be probed. “The inquiry would also cover the allegations that placements were given to some of the people in exchange for money,” the sources added.
There are five accused in the case, including Sasikumaran Thampi, who is the assistant general manager (legal) of Titanium. Divya’s husband Rajesh and Thampi’s accomplices Syamlal and Premkumar are the other co-accused. Thampi is named the fifth accused in the case. Titanium had earlier suspended Thampi after he was arraigned in the case. The police said Divya is the prime accused in the case as she had advertised the placement opportunities in Titanium on social media platforms.
Those who evinced interest were contacted over phone. Later, Thampi allegedly briefed the opportunities awaiting the recruits, and once they were convinced, he asked them to deposit half of the amount before the official interview and the rest after it. The amount was either deposited to Divya’s account or directly handed over to her.To prevent leaking of their modus operandi, they were told to switch off their phones while boarding Syamlal’s car, the police added.
Number of victims rises to seven
So far, seven cases have been registered in connection with the fraud
Special team to be formed to launch a comprehensive probe in all the cases
The scam has been operational since 2018