Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha Police has arrested Gautam Kumar, a Bihar native, in connection with a major fake job racket operated under the guise of “Gramin Rojgar Kalyan Sansthan” (GRKS), a bogus organisation that defrauded lakhs of unemployed youth across multiple states.
Gautam Kumar, from Dumaria Parbatta village in Khagaria district, Bihar, was apprehended on December 11 from Rohini in New Delhi. He was produced before a Metropolitan Magistrate court in Rohini the same day and brought to Odisha on transit remand. He is scheduled to appear before the Designated Court under the OPID Act in Cuttack on Monday, an EOW release said.
The case dates back to January 25, 2023, registered under Sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using forged document), and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC, along with Section 66(C) of the IT Act.
According to the release, the scam came to light after a fake job advertisement was posted in an Odia daily on December 28, 2022. Posing as GRKS, it invited applications for positions like District and Block Coordinator, Computer Operator, and Block Surveyor, along with required educational qualifications and salary details. The applicants were directed to the website www.grks.org and were required to pay fees: Rs 170 for SC/ST candidates and Rs 320 for others.
Subsequent investigations revealed GRKS, led by secretary Dharampal Singh with a registered office in New Delhi and branches in Mumbai, Bhopal, and Dehradun, ran a sophisticated fraud. With help from IT expert Amit Singh and associate Jairam Tiwari, they created a government-like website and placed similar ads in regional newspapers across over 10 states. Lakhs of job seekers applied from 2020, lured by the official-looking ads offering reservations and concessional fees. Candidates paid fees and even sat for exams, but none of them was given appointments and were deliberately disqualified.
The fraudsters pocketed crores in application fees, with at least Rs 3.48 crore traced to GRKS accounts so far.
Gautam Kumar was portrayed as a “Skill Developer” responsible for training recruits. However, no training was ever provided, yet he received over Rs 69.2 lakh from GRKS funds routed through his companies, Yotta Edutech Pvt Ltd, Guruba Edutech Pvt Ltd, and Amogh Seva Foundation trust.
It further noted that the accused, who had been absconding, was arrested on the strength of a non-bailable warrant.
In 2023, Dharampal Singh, Amit Singh, and Jairam Tiwari were arrested, and subsequently a chargesheet was filed against them, the release said, adding that further investigation is underway to ascertain the full extent of the scam and nab remaining accomplices.
