SAMBALPUR: Sambalpur police on Thursday claimed to have busted a multi-district job fraud racket that duped around 2,000 people across four districts of nearly Rs 2 crore by promising them sanitation jobs in a fake company.
SP Mukesh Bhamoo said two persons - Samrat Ray (32) of Badabazaar and Padmalaya Tandi (34) of Chiplima - have been arrested in this connection. The accused duo along with another accused from Bhubaneswar floated a bogus company named RMAX Private Limited, which they falsely claimed was authorised to recruit sanitation workers for Sambalpur Municipal Corporation (SMC).
The accused allegedly organised meetings in different parts of Sambalpur, Bargarh, Boudh and Sonepur districts, collecting Rs 12,000 each from hundreds of unemployed youths with promises of jobs offering daily wages of Rs 400. However, when job seekers demanded appointment letters and official documents, the accused made excuses, leading to suspicion. Verification at the SMC office later confirmed that RMAX was a fake company without any tie-up with the civic body.
Following a complaint by one Padma Lochan Gardia (35) of Chiplima in Burla, police registered a case and conducted raids at multiple locations. During the operation, police arrested the accused duo on Wednesday and seized Rs 62.01 lakh cash, a mini-van, car besides several Aadhaar cards, bank passbooks and documents of victims used in the fraud, from Samrat.
Bhamoo said the accused mainly targeted rural areas and lured small groups of people into believing in their proposal and pay money. Initially, they assigned some work and paid wages to win their trust. Later, they asked the victims to bring in more people. In the process, the accused convinced a large number of people to pay money for the promised jobs.
“All transactions were conducted in cash, leaving no financial records. We have recovered substantial cash and other evidence from the possession of the accused. Further investigation is underway to ascertain the total amount of money collected by the accused and trace other members of the racket including the Bhubaneswar-based accused,” the SP added.
