Ex-Army man held for duping job aspirants in Pathankot

The accused has been booked under IPC sections pertaining to cheating, forgery by registering a case and would be produced in local court and would be taken on remand, said police.

Police on Sunday arrested a former Army man for allegedly duping innocent people on pretext of getting them recruited in the security forces.

Based on a tip-off, the Pathankot police personnel intercepted him and immediately brought him to book. (HT photo)

The accused has been identified as Mohan Lal of Pathankot. Police said the accused, who had been impersonating as an Army recruitment officer, was absconding since 2016.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP), Pathankot, Harkamal Preet Singh Khakh said that they had got a tip-off that Mohan Lal, who had served in the Army, had been masquerading as Army recruitment officer from Amritsar and cheated unemployed youth promising jobs in the Armed forces. Based on a tip-off, the Pathankot police personnel intercepted him and immediately brought him to book, he said.

“During preliminary investigation, the accused admitted of the crime that he had duped many unemployed youth on the pretext of getting them recruited in the Army and extracted huge amounts of money from them. It had also come to fore that the accused is a habitual offender and wanted in three FIRs registered at different police stations in district Gurdaspur and Pathankot. He was declared proclaimed offender by the honourable court and the accused had been at large since 2016,” he said.

The accused had been booked under Indian Penal Code sections pertaining to cheating and forgery by registering a case. Khakh said the arrested accused would be produced in the local court and would be taken on remand for further investigation of the case.