LUCKNOW Some employees of the income tax department posted in Lucknow, Bareilly and Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida) were under the police scanner after investigation into the fake job interviews conducted by a woman at the income tax (I-T ) building in Lucknow, said officials. The involvement of insiders was suspected as the woman held for running the job scam had committed similar frauds in Gautam Buddh Nagar and never faced any challenge in getting entry into the office building.
The police said it was almost impossible to carry out interviews for around two weeks inside the office building without the support of insiders. “We would write to I-T officials concerned to conduct an internal inquiry to identify insiders involved in the entire episode,” stated an official.
The investigation revealed that the accused, Priyanka Mishra, had worked in the I-T department as an outsourced employee (data operator) in Gautam Buddh Nagar in 2016-17. The woman had distributed sweets there saying she qualified for civil services examination in 2017 and was later removed from the job over some anomalies, said a police official.
He said the woman shifted her base from Gautam Buddh Nagar to Lucknow after her alleged fraudulent activities started surfacing there. She started living in Lucknow in a rented accommodation in Triveni Nagar locality. The police were also searching for two other women, who were associated with Priyanka Mishra during the course of time.
The police were also scanning bank account details of the accused to ascertain how much money she had received in the past few months. The probe revealed that Priyanka Mishra was an engineering graduate and now pursuing law from a private college of Hardoi, said Aparna Rajat Kaushik, Lucknow DCP (central zone). The accused is married and has a four-year-old daughter. The police were verifying whether her husband was also involved in the scam, added the officer.
{{/usCountry}}The police were also scanning bank account details of the accused to ascertain how much money she had received in the past few months. The probe revealed that Priyanka Mishra was an engineering graduate and now pursuing law from a private college of Hardoi, said Aparna Rajat Kaushik, Lucknow DCP (central zone). The accused is married and has a four-year-old daughter. The police were verifying whether her husband was also involved in the scam, added the officer.
{{/usCountry}}Mishra was caught conducting job interviews while sitting in the staff cafeteria of the income tax department building (Pratyaksh Bhawan) in Lucknow on Tuesday. So far, investigation revealed that she had given fake appointment letters to at least nine people, after procuring money from them. The accused took ₹2-3 lakh from each job aspirant after assuring them of jobs. She was booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 420 (cheating), 467 and 468 (forgery) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document).