Police hunt for job scam kingpin

K Praveen Kumar | TNN

Chennai: Hundreds of people from Tamil Nadu and Kerala are likely to have been cheated by a group which had allegedly conducted a ‘recruitment drive’ for posts in the railways and offered applicants jobs if money was paid. A special police team from Kerala, headed by Tambanoor police station sub-inspector, was in the city to search for Saranya, suspected to be the leader of the gang, four of whose members have been arrested.
According to Kerala police, the group placed advertisements in popular newspapers announcing recruitment to the railways and offered postings to those who offered money. ‘Interviews’ were conducted in Ooty, Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam and appointment letters affixed with the seal of the Railway Recruitment Board were given to those who paid amounts ranging from Rs 50,000 to several lakhs of rupees. Tambanoor police in Thiruvananthapuram who received 45 complaints about applicants being conned, began investigation. The arrested four persons are from Tamil Nadu.
The Kerala police team brought two of the accused to Chennai on Monday and verified records of similar cases registered with the Central Crime Branch here. “We wanted to know whether the accused, Saranya, was involved in cases here. We have checked the records and photographs available with CCB but did not find her name figuring here. We are investigating whether the gang had conducted similar operations in other parts of Tamil Nadu. We need to secure the woman who seems to be the kingpin,” a Kerala police official told TOI. The police officer said that they were also on the lookout for those who had made replica seals of the Recruitment Board.