Fake job racket busted, Bescom engineer among 8 held: Police

“The accused persons had got the job in Bescom by creating fake documents and used to collect ₹35 to ₹40 lakh per post. The gang has provided six jobs since the last two years in Bescom,” police said.

Bengaluru Electricity Supply Company Limited (Bescom) superintendent engineer among eight others have been arrested for allegedly running a fake job racket in Chitradurga district of the state, police said on Tuesday.

All the accused have confessed to their crime, the police said. (Representative Photo)

“The accused persons had got the job in Bescom by creating fake documents and used to collect ₹35 to ₹40 lakh per post. The gang has provided six jobs since the last two years in Bescom,” police said.

Bescom section officer L Ravi is the kingpin of the gang, while employee HC Prem Kumar and superintending engineer ST Shanthamallappa were assisting him, the police said. The incident came to light when a person by the name CK Faijan approached Bescom with fake documents claiming to be the brother of a deceased lineman, the police added.

“The gang used to create records in the name of fake deceased persons who were working in Bescom and had died while on duty. The Bescom would provide jobs to the nearest relative of the deceased on compassionate grounds. As the accused were working in Bescom, it was easy for them to create such records,” the police said.

“Kingpin L Ravi made youths to apply for the post of assistant engineer, line man and other jobs in Bescom by collecting ₹35 to ₹40 lakh per post. Then he created records of deceased persons who never worked in Bescom. After that they applied to HR section official HR Prem Kumar and got approval of the application from officers. Superintending engineer ST Shanthamallappa issued appointment orders,” Kote police inspector and investigation officer Ramesh Rao said.

He said, “CK Faijan applied for the job of a lineman on compassionate grounds claiming his brother CK Mohammed Sheikh was working as lineman and was electrocuted while on duty. Upon verification by Bescom accounts department officers, it was found that the age of parents was not matching,” Rao said.

Immediately, the Bescom officers instructed Chitradurga officials to verify if Mohammed Sheikh “had died on duty”. Following this, Chitradurga Bescom AEE B Nagaraj filed a complaint with the Kote police.

All the accused have confessed to their crime, the police said. Meanwhile, the police are searching for two other accused who also availed the job of junior assistants and are absconding.