Fake Shiv Sena secretary dupes man of ₹15 lakh

According to the police, the complainant, Sandeep Salte, 40, a resident of Tagore Nagar, Vikhroli East, was told by Sanjay Koli, who lives in the same vicinity, that there were job opportunities available in the Indian Railways and he could help him get the work as he allegedly knew Sachin Chikalkar, who was allegedly the personal secretary of MLC Gorhe

Mumbai: A man was cheated of ₹15.20 lakh by a conman who allegedly posed as the secretary of Shiv Sena Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Neelam Gorhe, promising the victim’s wife a clerk post in the Indian Railways.

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All four accused, Sanjay Koli, Sachin Chikalkar, Reshma Chikalkar, Ramchandra Patil, and Prakash Chavan, have been booked by the police.

According to the police, the complainant, Sandeep Salte, 40, a resident of Tagore Nagar, Vikhroli East, was told by Sanjay Koli, who lives in the same vicinity, that there were job opportunities available in the Indian Railways and he could help him get the work as he allegedly knew Sachin Chikalkar, who was allegedly the personal secretary of MLC Gorhe.

Salte and Koli then allegedly met Chikalkar in the Vidhan Parishad. “Chikalkar told him that for getting the job of a clerk, the rate is ₹25 lakh and ₹40 lakh for a Ticket collector in Maharashtra from the government’s quota.” said a police officer. “The complainant told him that he was interested in getting a job for his wife, Vanita, as a clerk in the railways. The accused then asked him to have ₹25 lakh cash ready.”

Chikalkar allegedly further told Salte that he would take ₹1 lakh as an advance, another ₹1 lakh during police verification, ₹3 lakh during the medical examination, and ₹10 lakh after the medical test and once the candidate joins the job, ₹10 lakh, added the police officer.

Chikalkar was working with the Vidhan Sabha as a clerk. He has been suspended before due to his similar activities, and a departmental inquiry was also started against him. He worked with the office of Gorhe and was removed from there after complaints against him, said an official from Vidhan Parishad.

“Accordingly, since 2018, they started demanding money and had several meetings. They also took various documents and then sent an admit card to the complainant asking him to bring his wife, Vanita, in August 2019 to the Bhusawal DRM office for work. She was given some documents in Bhusawal and told about the exam,” said the officer.

At various stages, the accused friends allegedly posed as examiners and cheated the complainant.

Later, when Salte kept inquiring about the job, the accused initially told him that due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, training had been stopped by the railways. “Later, sometime after July 2021, they started telling the complainant that as the railway minister has changed, Piyush Goyal is no more the minister, the complainant ‘s work will not happen now and never returned the money,” said the police officer.

The accused have been booked under sections 34 (common intention), 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the Indian Penal Code.