One of the accused in the 2016 Nabha jailbreak case, was booked for allegedly running a fake job racket from inside Sangrur jail — where he is serving a sentence.
The accused, Aman Kumar of Kurukshetra, Haryana, allegedly lured youths by offering jobs in Crime and Criminal Network and System (CCTNS) — a project of National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) — as volunteers.
Kumar was brought on a production warrant from Sangrur jail following information provided by Pankaj Suri, 45, of Bhamian Kalan, who was arrested for possessing a fake identity card a couple of days ago.
Sharing details, commissioner of police Mandeep Singh Sidhu said inspector Jatinder Singh, in-charge at the city cyber cell, came to know about the fake CCTNS website and initiated an investigation. Police arrested Puri and recovered a fake identity card from his possession. During investigation, the police recovered five mobiles, three laptops, a printer, a fake ID, stamps bearing “CCTNS New Delhi HQ” and “director North India, Anti-Corruption Bureau”, letter of fake communication to ADGP – intelligence, New Delhi. He used to print fake identity cards and issue them to people on Kumar’s behalf.
Kumar had allegedly introduced himself as additional director general of police (ADGP) and issued a fake superintendent identity card to Suri, who told police that he was not aware that Kumar was lodged in jail and assumed that he was working under a real police officer.
{{/usCountry}}Kumar had allegedly introduced himself as additional director general of police (ADGP) and issued a fake superintendent identity card to Suri, who told police that he was not aware that Kumar was lodged in jail and assumed that he was working under a real police officer.
{{/usCountry}}Sangrur jail officials recovered two mobile phones from Kumar, who had smashed one of the phones to keep officials from recovering the data.
“The accused offered jobs to Class 10 passouts, graduates in the network and promised to give a salary from ₹14,000 to ₹22,000 per month. They used to receive ₹999 as registration from candidates through digital wallets. Later, they issue them identity cards with different ranks of police. The accused were running the racket since September 2022. They have duped as many as 400 youths from Punjab, Telangana, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh and other states of ₹4 lakhs,” the police chief said.
He added that the accused has created email addresses including cctns.gov@gmail.com and punjabcctnc00@gmail.com to come off as authentic.
Kumar is facing a trial in at least 30 cases registered at various police stations. Earlier, he had duped people while posing as a superintendent of police, IPS officer and nodal officer of the state disaster response force. He had also set up a fake website for the state disaster response fund to lure youngsters and enrol them.
Suri, meanwhile, is also facing a trial in a cheating case.
A case under sections 419, 420 (both cheating), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 466, 467, 468, 471 (all forgery) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 66C and 66D of the Information and Technology Act has been registered against the accused at the Division number 7 police station. More arrests are expected in the case.