E-Paper
Two arrested for duping aspirants of Territorial Army using fake website
Indian Army officials of the Southern Command, along with officials of Pune police crime branch, have arrested two men for creating a misleading website of the Territorial Army (TA), and duping aspirants wanting to join the force, of lakhs of rupees
Indian Army officials of the Southern Command, along with officials of Pune police crime branch, have arrested two men for creating a misleading website of the Territorial Army (TA), and duping aspirants wanting to join the force, of lakhs of rupees. While the police have arrested the two men for running the fake website, the men are involved in duping aspirants attempting to join multiple government services, including the Railways and the banking sector.
The accused were identified as Bharat Krushna Kate and Pandit Pawar, both arrested in the late hours of May 31 from Solapur. Based on information provided by Army sources, officials of Unit 5 of the crime branch made the arrests.
By quoting ₹6 lakh for an Indian Army job and ₹7 lakh for Indian Railways, the two men and their accomplices duped the complainant and witnesses of over ₹13,50,000, according to a statement by Pune police crime branch.
Kate ran a coaching center for government job entrance exams in Sangola, Solapur and selected victims from the people who approached him, according to a statement issued by Unit 5 of Pune police.
“The module recently hosted a fake website of Territorial Army with uploaded names of selected candidates on it. Investigation further revealed that they were charging innocent aspirants wanting to join various government services hefty amounts for fraudulent recruitment forms. The aspirants were not only charged for their selection but were also made to bear the expenses of travel, boarding and lodging during their trips to different dubious locations for fraudulent written exams, medical tests and training, post the fraudulent recruitment,” read a statement from the Indian Army.
The accused, along with others, sent fake call letters, joining letters, admit cards, medical test reports and took the victims to dubious locations.
Adding further details about the investigation, the crime branch officials revealed that the two men and their accomplices made the aspirants go to Delhi, Jhansi, Ranchi, Lucknow, and Jabalpur before flashing their names on the fake website.
The police have formed two teams of crime branch officials to probe the matter further.
A case under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act has been registered at the Mundhwa police station. Senior police inspector Hemant Patil of Unit 5 is investigating the case along with Indian Army officials.
