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Bihar Army recruitment scam: Fraud candidates nabbed by Military Intelligence
An amount of ₹3 lakh each was demanded from the five youngsters for a ‘group D’ post at the MES in Danapur cantonment.
With the detention of six job aspirants on Thursday night, the Military Intelligence (MI) has exposed an Army recruitment scam in Bihar. The six youngsters, including one from Deoria in Uttar Pradesh, were duped by the accused identified as Sunil Kumar to the tune of ₹2.25 lakh, officials said.
Kumar, who stays in Old Grand Bungalow (OGB), 13 in Danapur Cantonment area, gave them false assurances of recruitment in military engineering services (MES) and the Indian Army. People privy to the development in the MI disclosed that a sports quota/dependent recruitment rally is being scheduled at the premises of Bihar regimental centre with effect from September 5. Acting on a tip-off, the MI unit, Lucknow, intervened and searched the area.
Upon receiving information about a dozen suspicious men staying in OGB, personnel of the Military Intelligence unit of Lucknow rushed to the spot and detained six youths identified as — Sanoj Kumar, Amrendra Kumar Yadav, Abhishek Kumar Mandal (all three from Munger), Manish Kumar (Araria), Rahish Kumar Yadav (Lakhisarai) and Manu Prasad (Uttar Pradesh). All six were interrogated.
They were found hiding in OGB number 13 in front of Tweed Gate of BRC. Sunil Kumar and some other accused managed to escape from the spot.
The six job aspirants told MI officials that they were desperate to get a job in the Indian Army. Five of them reached Danapur in the third week of August.
Talking to HT, Manish, a 12th pass student, revealed that he was selected twice in the PET test but was declared unfit in the medical exam. This time, he would get the last chance. “Sunil sir promised that he is the only person who managed army officials for recruitments in any post. He sent a video that three people, including a woman, who were wearing army combat uniform and performed medical fitness test,” said Manish.
An amount of ₹3 lakh each was demanded from the five youngsters for a ‘group D’ post at the MES in Danapur cantonment. Undergraduate’s job aspirants paid ₹30,000 each as an advance to Sunil Kumar through cash. Kumar asked them to stay in Danapur for a few days while their joining letters were sent to respective postal addresses.
The MI also seized several incriminating documents like reporting forms, medical fitness certificates, appointment letters and family declaration certificates.
According to the MI official, Kumar had contacted the job aspirants through WhatsApp. “The final amount of ₹7 lakh was to be given after their enrolment was done,” said an MI official on condition of anonymity. All candidates were provisioned for food by one Raju Kumar said to be a social worker affiliated with ‘Vaidik Samajik Sikhsa Uthhan Sangthan’. The MI unit is also on the lookout for such touts to stop fraudulent selections in the Indian Army.
During the scanning of cell phones, the officials found that Sunil Kumar and his team members lured job aspirants from Haryana, Pathankot, Rajasthan, Aligarh and West Bengal.
Hindustan Times also learned that a group of five people were seen in the video posing as a doctor, an army official, a woman and a man in army combat uniform, and another one posing as an army official. The video was shot to lure the aspirants and show them that the touts were close to the army doctor and officials.
