E-Paper
Vikhroli resident loses ₹15L to frauds who promised railway job to his wife
They told him that he would have to pay ₹25 lakh for the post of the clerk in the railways and after the complainant agreed to the deal, he was to pay ₹1 lakh in advance, an equal amount after police verification and ₹3 lakh at the time of medical test and ₹10 lakh each after written examination and on getting the job
MUMBAI: Wooed by job stability and attractive salary, a man’s hunt to find his wife a clerk’s job at Central Railway led to him being duped of ₹15 lakh by frauds. Five years after the crime, the Vikhroli police on Thursday booked five frauds who took the couple for a ride on the pretext of providing a job in the railways.
Officials said that one of the accused is the complainant, 40-year-old Sandeep Salte’s neighbour, and he introduced him to another accused called Sachin Chikhalkar, who claimed to be working in the legislative council as secretary. They told him that he would have to pay ₹25 lakh for the post of the clerk in the railways and after the complainant agreed to the deal, he was to pay ₹1 lakh in advance, an equal amount after police verification and ₹3 lakh at the time of medical test and ₹10 lakh each after written examination and on getting the job.
According to the police, Sandeep Salte, a resident of Tagore Nagar in Vikhroli East alleged that his neighbour Sanjay Koli approached him and informed him that there was a job opportunity in the Central Railway and Chikhalkar, who worked as the secretary of deputy speaker could help him get the job under the ministry quota.
While discussing with Koli, Salte requested him to help him get a job with his wife on the railway. Koli then took him to the legislative council and introduced him to Sachin Chikhalkar. Salte was told by them that, as per the market rate, he must pay ₹25 lakh for the post of clerk and if he is interested in the post of ticket checker, he would have to pay ₹40 lakh. Salte agreed to the post of clerk.
Later Chikhalkar and his associates met Salte in Ghatkopar along with Prakash Chavan and Ramchandra Patil, who posed as colleagues of Chikhalkar. Chikhalkar said that Salte needed to pay in instalments and gave in the payment plan.
Salte claimed that in August 2018, he accordingly paid ₹1 lakh in cash to Koli and Patil, as an advance in a hotel at Vikhroli East while giving his wife’s educational documents to them.
A few days later, Koli sent the railway recruitment board NOC clearance letter and police NOC letter. In August 2019, Koli also sent a hall ticket for the Railway Recruitment Board examination to him on WhatsApp from his mobile saying that the exam would be held at Bhusawal on August 23, 2019, and the date was also mentioned on the hall ticket. He then paid ₹1 lakh more and an exam was held at the DRM office in Bhusawal.
Chikhalkar and two women were present as examiners. Koli then asked him to transfer ₹2 lakh to the account of a jeweller in Mira Road and one lakh was paid in cash to Koli. Once the exam was over, the complainant claimed that he paid ₹10 lakh to Reshma Sachin Chikhalkar and the amount was counted by Patil in the presence of two witnesses.
Koli later gave an excuse that due to the pandemic, his wife’s training could not happen and after a few months he said that the railways minister removed his wife’s name from the list so she would not get a job and they promised that they would return his money.
The complainant waited and when they neither provided his wife a job, as promised, nor returned his money, he approached the Vikhroli police station and based on his complaint a case was registered against Sanjay Koli, Sachin Chikhalkar, Reshma Sachin Chikhalkar, Ramchandra Patil and Prakash Chavan for duping him of ₹15 lakh on the pretext of giving the job to his wife, said a police officer.
