Sambalpur: In a major success against fraudsters targeting gullible people, the police in Odisha’s Burla on Thursday busted a fake recruitment racket and arrested two persons for collecting huge amount of money from job seekers.
Cash to the tune of Rs 62 lakh was seized from the racketeers, who allegedly duped hundreds of job seekers in several districts in western Odisha with false promises of sweeper jobs in government offices.
The accused have been identified as Padmavati Tandi and Rahul Ray, who allegedly cheated people by promising to get employment in various government offices.
Police said the two collected around Rs 12,000 per applicant and mostly targeted women and people from economically weaker families in Sambalpur, Bargarh, Boudh, and Sonepur districts.
The accused posed as intermediaries with links to government offices and used forged documents and fake recommendation letters to gain the trust of their victims. They also organised small community meetings to convince job aspirants about the legitimacy of the recruitment drive.
The fraud came to light when several women approached local leaders after failing to get job confirmation letters despite paying money.
Based on the complaints, Burla Police launched a thorough probe and later carried out coordinated raids at multiple locations based on tip-offs.
Sambalpur SP Mukesh Kumar Bhamoo said the police team conducted a sting operation before moving in on the accused. “We have seized around Rs 62 lakh in cash, which was collected from job aspirants. The amount was recovered from different locations after several hours of search,” the SP said.
Police are now tracing the money trail and UPI transactions linked to the scam to identify others who might be involved. Further investigation is in progress
