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U.P.: Two held in Lucknow for cheating army job seekers
The U.P. STF arrested the two accused identified as Pawan Raj of Bakshi Ka Talab in Lucknow and Santosh Yadav of Bijnor on the inputs by military intelligence
Two people, including an army deserter and manager of a defence academy, were arrested on Saturday night from near Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Bijnor camp in Lucknow for collecting money from many army aspirants on fake assurance of helping them in clearing mandatory medical test for recruitment in the army, said police officials here on Sunday.
The U.P. Special Task Force (STF) arrested the two accused identified as the army deserter Pawan Raj, a resident of Bakshi Ka Talab, and Santosh Yadav, the manager of Mission Defence Academy in CRPF camp under Bijnor police station limits in Lucknow, on the inputs by military intelligence.
The STF officials said Pawan Raj had been at large ever since his role surfaced in compromising the army recruitment process in January 2020. He said Pawan Raj was dismissed from his job after he was court-martialled by the army when it was established that nearly ₹ 90 lakh was received in his bank accounts from army aspirants.
They said Pawan Raj got recruited into the army in 2017 and developed friendship with fellow army personnel Bala and Swapnil Santosh Suryavanshi during his posting at Army Medical Corps (AMC) in Lucknow. They said Pawan Raj joined the gang already operated by Bala and Swapnil and started helping them in luring the aspirants and mint money from them.
They said Bala and Swapnil were arrested and sent to jail after their involvement surfaced in it. The duo was court martialled. “While being on the run, Pawan Raj started luring army aspirants through advertisement with the help of the defence academy manager Satish Yadav and duped them in the name of getting them recruited in the army,” said an STF official.
“The STF have recovered five forged call letters, two forged entrance cards, five fake stamps and one identity card of army from their possession,” he added. He said the arrested accused had been handed over to the cops at Bijnor police station after registering a fresh case of fraud and forgery against them.
