Man held for duping people with DJB job offer

A 44-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly duping people on the pretext of providing them jobs in the Delhi Jal Board in west Delhi.

Accused Shrikant Pandey alias Santosh, an Allahabad native, has duped several people of lakhs of rupees in the last couple of years by posing as an officer of the DJB, the police said.

He mainly targeted the lower-income and unemployed class of people from states like UP and Bihar who looked for a government job, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Vijay Kumar said.

He has a gift of gab and would trap people on the promise of jobs in the DJB, he said. He would take huge sums of money from them and later on disappear and stop responding.
 

Till now, the police has identified six victims but they have contacted other police stations here to find his other victims.

On June 10, Onkar Singh, a resident of Ramesh Nagar, approached the police with a complaint that he had been duped of Rs 3 lakh by Pandey who posed as a junior engineer with the DJB posted in Karol Bagh zone.

Singh said he was impressed by Pandey's "helpful" nature and opened up about his son being unemployed and requested him to help his son get a job, he added.

The accused assured Singh that he would arrange a job for his unemployed son as he was in the good books of his boss and had good contacts with the Recruitment Department of the DJB.

He demanded money from Singh so that he can buy gifts for the senior officers of the recruitment board.

When the complainant inquired about the total amount involved, Pandey replied that it might be around Rs 6 lakh to be paid in two installments of Rs three lakh each.

Pandey told Singh that one installment will have to be paid before the issuance of the interview letter and the remaining amount after the appointment letter is issued.

Singh paid Rs 3 lakh to the accused. But after receiving the payment, Pandey stopped meeting him and told him that he is busy with work.

Later, Pandey stopped picking the victim's calls.

Realising that he had been duped, Singh filed a police complaint at Kirti Nagar police station, he said.

A team was formed under the supervision of Anil Sharma, SHO (Kirti Nagar) to nab the accused.

On the basis of a tip-off, Pandey was arrested from near a liquor vend in Kirti Nagar timber market on June 11, the police said. They are also trying to find out whether he had other accomplices.