The CSMT railway police have unearthed a racket duping unemployed individuals on the pretext of providing railway jobs. While several persons, including an employee, have been identified for their alleged roles in the scam, so far, two individuals have been booked. The police said that the name of others will be included in the FIR once there is enough evidence against them.
The racket had spoofed the official email ID of railways to send fake job-related documents to targets. Interestingly, the fraud came to the fore after a Kalyan resident, who paid Rs 10 lakh for a driver’s job in the Railway Protection Force (RPF), inadvertently sent back his documents on the authentic email ID. “As per your mail, I have attached a filled training letter. Kindly see the attachment,” read the email of Akshay Salve, 28, whose brother, Aniket, works as a railway guard in Igatpuri.
According to the FIR lodged on December 14, RPF assistant security commissioner launched a probe after receiving the email on November 28 and subsequently summoned Salve. During the investigation, he explained that his brother had told him to email the documents to apply for driver’s post in the RPF.
The authorities then summoned Aniket who revealed that his acquaintance, Atul Tayade, 42, who works as a railway guard in a suburban sector, had informed him about the vacancy. According to Aniket, the latter bragged about his connections with railway officers and assured that he could help with his brother’s recruitment. Tayade even provided fake forms, including a medical examination letter, a signature and fingerprint form, which Salve duly filled and submitted via email.
Probe further revealed that Tayade’s brother, Ashish, 38, was acquainted with Sanjay Shukla and Rohit alias Amit Singh, who allegedly scammed young people with the lure of a railway job. Shukla works as a technician (grade 3) at the Virar carshed in the Western Railway and is also a prominent figure in an unrecognised railway union, said sources. However, details about Singh remain unavailable. The Tayade brothers introduced Salve to the duo, who demanded Rs13 lakh for a railway job.
Ashish also showed the Salve brothers a list of individuals who were purportedly recruited in the railways. Shukla took some documents from Salve and issued a medical letter. On November 29, the latter paid Rs8 lakh in cash and transferred Rs2 lakh to a Kotak Mahindra account. Investigation revealed that Shukla and Singh had spoofed the RPFs official email ID to deceive unemployed individuals.
A case has been filed for cheating and forgery and further probe is on.
