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Chandigarh: Fake contractor deployed his victims in EWS colonies to stay under radar
The EWS colonies don’t come under the MC limits, and hence the workers remained undetected by the civic bodies
The fake contractor, who duped over 400 people in Chandigarh on the pretext of providing them permanent jobs as sanitation workers of municipal corporation, used to deploy them in EWS colonies—Mauli Jagran, Maloya, Dhanas and Sector 56, to stay under the radar.
The EWS colonies don’t come under the MC limits and hence the workers remained undetected. The scam is estimated at over ₹4 crore.
Mastermind had once worked at UT secretariat
The accused, Simal Khairwal, a resident of Jhampur (Mohali) who has studied only till Class-9, had worked as a safai karamchari at the UT secretariat for seven months before he was asked to resign. After remaining without a job for some time, he devised a scheme to become a self-styled contractor, hiring cleanliness workers for parks and roads in various parts of the city. He had also engaged 16 supervisors who coerced job seekers to pay for the jobs at DC rates. The scam is estimated at over ₹4 crore, with over ₹3 crore constituting the salaries’ component.
Initially joined by Rohit, his close aide, whom he appointed supervisor of the company “Ultimate Manpower Housekeeping,” Kairwal employed 10 workers and solicited ₹5 lakh for employment at DC rates. Kairwal then formed a team of 15 more supervisors, who were tasked with arranging additional cleanliness workers and collecting up to ₹1 lakh from each worker in exchange for jobs. Rohit, the co-accused, who has been arrested, alone provided 150 workers who were subsequently duped.
The accused made the workers wear uniforms with the company logo, which were stitched from a shop in Sector 41. The supervisors’ role included maintaining attendance records and posting pictures of the workers at their jobs every few minutes to ensure their presence. The police have sought attendance records from the supervisors, who will also be questioned in connection with the fraud. The record will detail the extent of the scam and the number of people involved in it.
The investigation revealed that a horticulture employee in the UT administration had been in touch with the contractor a couple of times but claimed to be unaware of the scam. The employee had once questioned Khairwal about whether he had been allotted any tender for supplying cleanliness workers, to which Khairwal diverted the question. Police have questioned the JEE, but have not been able to find his connection with the scam.
The duo had been using the defrauded money for personal gains. From Simal, the police recovered an Accent car, an XUV 500, a Swift Maruti car, a Bullet motorcycle, two properties (one in Sector 52 worth ₹18 lakh and another in Shahi Enclave, Jhampur worth ₹18 lakh), a 110-gm gold chain donated at Khatu Shyam Mandir in Rajasthan worth ₹8 lakh, and ₹1 lakh in cash.
From Rohit, they seized a Verna car, a 50-gram gold bangle, a 20-gm gold chain with a locket, ₹2 lakh cash, a house purchased with the cheated money worth ₹17 lakh in Jhampur, and 50 grams of gold kept in Mathood Finance, Sector 37.
The duo was produced in court on Wednesday and police obtained a two-day remand.
Mayor demands vigilance inquiry
City mayor Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor requested Punjab governor and UT administrator Banwari Lal Purohit to initiate vigilance inquiry into the matter. In a letter to UT administrator, mayor Dhalor said, “A fake contractor and his supervisor were arrested for allegedly duping over 400 cleanliness workers on the pretext of providing them jobs. In a separate case, the supervisor and general manager of Chandigarh Smart City have also been arrested for taking bribe from the outsourced employees working in the ICCC. A few days ago, a similar case had also come to light during the recruitment of 250 sweepers on an outsource basis via a fake private contractor in city’s government schools.”
“Such incidents are tarnishing the image of the municipal corporation as well as Chandigarh administration. Such cases are not possible without the support of seniors. It is requested that the matter be thoroughly probed by the vigilance and action be taken against the delinquent officers accordingly,” the mayor added.
Addressing a press conference, Dhalor said, “The scams that took place during the tenure of BJP are coming to light. The job scam cannot happen without the connivance of government officials and BJP leaders. The administrative officials were sitting with their eyes closed. The money defrauded from poor people should be returned and strict action should be taken.”
AAP leader Chandramukhi Sharma said that a mafia is behind all these scams which enjoys political patronage.
With inputs from Mandeep Kaur Narula
