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61-year-old man held for cheating people on pretext of jobs in Australia
New Delhi: A 61-year-old man from Karnataka was arrested from a three-star hotel in south-west Delhi’s Dwarka for allegedly cheating people by offering them jobs
New Delhi: A 61-year-old man from Karnataka was arrested from a three-star hotel in south-west Delhi’s Dwarka for allegedly cheating people by offering them jobs in Australia. He allegedly operated from luxury hotels in the national capital, the police said on Thursday.
The elderly man, DH John Paul, who did his PhD from Andhra University, was caught by six job seekers, including a woman, who had paid ₹2 lakh each to him over a period of seven-eight months for getting a job in Australia. Several fake appointment letters were seized from him, the police said.
According to the police, Paul impersonated as a placement consultant working for two companies. He allegedly tricked job aspirants into paying money by telling them that the companies have been setting up new ventures in Australia and he was entrusted with recruiting young people from India.
“To impress and convince his potential targets, Paul used to stay and meet them in various luxury hotels in central Delhi’s Chanakyapuri, Connaught Place, Dwarka and Rohini. He used to conduct interviews of the job aspirants in the hotel rooms and issue fake appointment letters on the spot. After receiving money, Paul used to change his cellphone number and avoided meeting the victims,” said a police officer, associated with the case.
The deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi), Eish Singhal, said that a total of 17 people who were cheated by Paul approached the police. A case was registered at the Chanakyapuri police station on Wednesday on the complaint of one Archana, a resident of Rohini, and her five friends. According to the police, Archana had met Paul at her engagement ceremony last year.
“The six complainants alleged that Paul had taken ₹2 lakh from each of them on the pretext of giving jobs in Australia. While our inquiry was on, the investigating officer received information from Dwarka North police station that Archana and others had cornered Paul at a three-star hotel in Dwarka,” said Singhal.
A team from the Chanakyapuri police station reached the hotel and took Paul into custody. A cheating case was registered on the complaint of the six persons and Paul was arrested, the police said.
“Since the cheating had taken place at most of the luxury hotels in central Delhi the details regarding Paul’s duration of stay are being obtained from the hotels,” the DCP added.
The police said Paul is unemployed. “We are verifying his antecedents to ascertain if he was previously arrested in other states for similar offences,” said Deepak Yadav, additional DCP (New Delhi).
