STF busts fake job racket running from UP secretariat

The STF has recovered eight forged recruitment letters of ‘assistant review officers’ and fake identity papers, along with educational documents of as many as 22 job aspirants, from the accused

The Uttar Pradesh special task force (STF) has arrested a secretariat employee and two others for allegedly duping hundreds of youths to the tune of several lakhs on the pretext of providing government jobs, the police department said on Tuesday.

Representational image.

The arrested people were identified as Vijay Kumar Mandal, the secretariat employee, and his two accomplices Dharam Veer Singh alias Ajay Singh, and Akash Kumar.

STF deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Deepak Kumar Singh said that Singh hatched the plan after Mandal at a VVIP guest house a few years ago.

Mandal was debt-ridden and struggling to pay back a loan of around ₹40 lakh, as a result of which he fell for Singh’s nefarious plans, the DSP said, adding that Singh and Kumar brought several job aspirants in separate batches for a fake interview held inside the secretariat by Mandal. .

Singh later prepared forged recruitment letters and identity cards and disappeared after taking money from the youths. The three accused never revealed their real identity, because of which the victims were unable to trace them.

The STF has recovered eight forged recruitment letters of ‘assistant review officers’ and fake identity papers, along with educational documents of as many as 22 job aspirants, from the accused.