Delhi Police’s Crime Branch has busted a job racket by arresting three men who allegedly duped people of ₹5 lakh each by recruiting them as secret agents in the ‘Department of Criminal Intelligence’ — a made-up name — under the Ministry of Home Affairs, the police said on Thursday.
According to the police, Ashish Chaudhary, 27, created a fake government website in the name of ‘Department of Criminal Intelligence’, while his associates, Govind Kaushik, 33, and Amit Kumar, 34, helped him set up a fake training centre at Jaffarpur Kalan village.
Special Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Singh Yadav said a team of Crime Branch officials raided the centre on Monday based on a tip-off. The accused, who were leading a training session, were arrested. The trio had recruited candidates for posts such as constable, office assistant and clerk. They had been running the racket since 2021 and took the premises on rent in 2022, the police said.
Eleven victims belonging to Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi were found at the centre. They said the accused collected ₹5 lakh from each of them. “More victims and accused are likely to be involved in the racket. More locations may be raided,” an officer said.
The recruits were made to stand in the sun for long hours on the pretext of improving their endurance, their social media accounts were deleted and were told that they were being monitored round the clock. “The accused also held a Raising Day to convince the victims about the authenticity of the organisation,” an officer said.
The police said Mr. Chaudhary posed as a Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr. Kumar as a Sub-Inspector and Mr. Kaushik as their subordinate. “The recruits were told that they would be undergoing secret training to become undercover agents. The accused made them believe that they would lose their jobs if they disclosed this information,” the officer said.
Mr. Chaudhary had duped people earlier too, but operated on a smaller scale. “He gleaned ideas from television and advertisements on government job portals,” an officer said.
The police also recovered forged documents, stamps, cash and police uniforms in the raid.
