THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Thampanoor police on Saturday arrested a railway employee for allegedly duping several job aspirants by promising them jobs in the Railways after collecting over `50 lakh from them. The arrested is Murukesan Pillai, 48, a native of Tamil Nadu and staying in the railway quarters at Thampanoor. He is working in the mechanical wing of the Railways at Veli. According to the police, Murukesan had been absconding since the aspirants filed a complaint at various police stations, including Thampanoor, Fort and Nedumangad.
He was taken into custody from the quarters when he reached there on Friday night. The police said Murukesan had duped many by promising permanent jobs in the Railways. He could win the trust of job hopefuls as he was employed in the Railways. He collected money ranging from Rs 1 lakh to many lakhs for permanent as well as temporary postings in the Railways. The fraud came to light when he failed to attend phone calls of the job seekers. Later, they filed complaints with the police. The police registered a case under Section 420 (Punishment for cheating) of the IPC. He was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.
“Murukesan has confessed to the crime, and efforts are on to recover the money. We will seek his custody for interrogation and to collect evidence. It is learnt that he had cheated several gullible job seekers. We hope more people will come up and file complaints following his arrest,” said Thampanoor sub-inspector Renjith V S.