Delhi job fraud mastermind a ‘bright student’ who failed to crack judiciary exams

Sumit Kumar, a law student from Delhi University, created a fake portal and duped over 4,000 job applicants.

Sumit Kumar aspired to be a judge, but a “disappointing” performance in the Judicial Services examination lured him into a job fraud — a con job that got him ₹20 lakh in just two days, investigators said.

Sumit Kumar was arrested on Saturday after an official from Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) approached police alleging that he had cheated more than 4,000 youths . (Video grab)

Kumar was arrested on Saturday after an official from Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) approached police alleging that he had cheated more than 4,000 youths by offering 6,715 jobs that did not exist. Kumar allegedly charged money for examination fee for these non-existent jobs.

“He is a bright LLM student and has had a good academic career so far, but he failed to crack the Judicial Services exam by just a few marks. That frustrated him, and he decided to temporarily shift his attention to making quick money,” an investigator directly involved in the probe, but not authorised to speak to the media, told HT.

Confident of his abilities, the 27-year-old decided to give the exam another try even as he continues to pursue LLM from a Delhi University, from where he had also completed his BCom and LLB.

“Kumar is originally from Sonepat and his father is a retired inspector from Haryana Police. He belongs to an educated family that has produced quite a few legal professionals,” said the investigator.

It was sometime in March that Kumar, along with two other persons he became friends with from his LLB days, got an NGO registered in the name of “Women and Child Development Organisation”. WMCD officials have alleged that the NGO’s website was designed to mislead job aspirants into believing it belonged to the ministry.

“Kumar’s interrogation so far has suggested that when he and his friends had got the NGO registered, they intended to do social work. But it appears their plan never took off, after which Kumar decided to use the website for the fraud,” said the investigator, adding there would be more clarity once his two friends are arrested.

According to investigators, Kumar had already earned ₹20 lakh in two days, but his target was much bigger. “He thought the job offers would find lakhs of takers and would earn him crores. In his forms, he was accepting application till December 8,” an investigator said.

BK Gupta, DCP (New Delhi), said Kumar had already withdrawn ₹3 lakh from the bank account he was using to collect the money.