Three held for duping aspirants by promising them civic jobs

Three people have been arrested in Mumbai for using forged letterheads and stamps of the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation to dupe job-seekers. The police suspect that more people, including VVCMC employees, may be involved in the scam. Several aspirants have allegedly been duped by the accused.

Mumbai: The Achole police in Vasai have arrested three persons and seized forged letterheads and stamps of Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation (VVMC) which were being used to dupe job-seekers by promising them jobs in the civic body.

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The officials suspect that apart from the three, who are members of a gang, there could be more people involved in the fraud, including VVCMC employees. The three accused had allegedly duped several aspirants. Earlier, the Virar police had unearthed a scam involving 117 buildings constructed on the basis of allegedly forged letterheads and stamps from various authorities. In August, the Virar police had conducted raids on the offices of a few developers and found 55 alleged files of illegal properties with Completion Certificates and Occupation Certificates and letterheads and stamps of VVMC, the Tehsildar and the MahaRera.

On Friday, the police filed the chargesheet in the first FIR it registered over the alleged irregularities.

According to the police officers, the accused have been identified as Vijay Gangaram Jadhav (32), Suraj Jadhav (33) Mahesh Jadhav (35). On Monday a 40-year-old woman Sushma Vispute from Bhayander registered a case in Achole police station that she had been promised a job in the VVCMC as a clerk by the three men and duped ₹2 lakh. Vispute told the police that she had been introduced to Suraj through an acquaintance. Suraj then took Vispute to Vijay’s office located on Achole Road in Nalasopara East where she was made to fill out a form with all her details and told that Vijay had connections in the VVCMC and could help her get a job as a clerk. Like Vispute, 10 more people had been promised the same job. The three had taken ₹2 lakh from each of the candidates and after a week they all had been given appointment letters from VVCMC on the letterhead and with the stamp confirming their appointment for the post.

The candidates were told that they would have to attend a training session for a week and would be informed about it. After waiting for weeks when Vispute did not get a call from Vijay about the training, she became restless.

On Monday Vispute went to the VVCMC to enquire about the training session when she was told that there was no position of clerk available and that they had no vacancy.

Vispute then approached the Achole police and registered a case against Vijay. On searching the office premises of Vijay, the police found printers and stamp moulds of VVCMC and other agencies like MHADA, MMRDA and other government offices. We have seized the material and arrested the three men,” said PSI Rekha Patil, from Achole police station.

Patil said that Vijay was the mastermind of the cheating while Mahesh and Suraj work as food app delivery boys and are in - charge of searching for targets who were desperately looking for jobs. The three have been conning people for the past three years by promising them jobs in government offices.

“We are now finding out how many more people have been cheated by the three,” said Patil.