Srinagar: Police on Tuesday arrested five persons who were running a fake job racket in Kupwara district of north Kashmir, officials said here.
Acting on a complaint, police arrested Nazir Ahmad Khan who had duped a youth of Rs 70,000 by promising to provide him with a job in the Military Engineering Service (MES).
“Responding to the complaint and supported by credible intelligence from the Military Intelligence (MI), the Kralpora Police Station initiated legal proceedings by registering an FIR,” the officials said.
During investigations, key witnesses were examined and counterfeit appointment letters were seized as evidence.
“Khan was subsequently apprehended in connection with the scam. The accused disclosed his affiliation with a group of scammers employing a distinctive modus operandi to defraud unemployed youths eagerly seeking positions within MES,” the official said.
“Khan revealed the identities of his four accomplices, Zahoor Ahmad Mir, Shakeel Ahmad Makroo, Feroz Ahmad Khashu and Shafkat Ahmad Shah, who were also arrested,” they said.
Makroo, who emerged as the mastermind of the scam, operated under the alias “Raju,” presenting himself as an MES officer stationed at Rangreth, Srinagar, they said.
He enlisted the assistance of Mir, Khashu, and Khan as field agents, entrusted with the task of extracting money from unsuspecting job seekers, the officials said.
They said Shah, the “technical expert” of the racket, was responsible for fabricating and printing counterfeit appointment letters and other documentation.
“As of now, the gang has duped eight unemployed youths hailing from north Kashmir, amassing an illicit sum of Rs 25 lakhs,” the officials said, adding that more arrests were expected as the investigations in the case were ongoing.
