Three women among four arrested for government job fraud racket in Ganjam district

BERHAMPUR: Chhatrapur police on Friday arrested four persons including three women for allegedly running a job fraud racket and cheating youths by promising them government employment.

The accused are Bishnupriya Behera (27) of Puruna Chhatrapur, Narayan Sethi (36) and his wife Deepa Behera (22) of Paika Jamuna in Kabisuryanagar and Sunita Das (36) of Agastinuagaon.

Chhatrapur IIC Sabyasachi Malla said the accused duped many youths for more than a year by promising them government jobs and issuing fake appointment letters and identity cards.

Ganjam SP Harisha BC said the fraud came to light after one of the victims, Imran Khan (40) of Puti Gopalpur, lodged a complaint with Chhatrapur police on Thursday. Khan, who works at a Tata project at Chamakhandi, alleged that Sunita introduced herself as a data entry operator in Ganjam block office and promised to secure a peon’s job for his wife Fatima Begum.

Sunita allegedly demanded Rs 2.30 lakh along with personal documents and collected Rs 2.10 lakh from Khan through PhonePe. She later handed over an appointment letter and an identity card, both of which were found to be fake.

Based on the complaint, police registered a case under sections 318(4) and 3(5) of the BNS. During investigation, it was found that Bishnupriya allegedly posed as a ration card operator at Rangeilunda block and was involved in preparing the fake employment documents. The money collected by Sunita was allegedly transferred to Bishnupriya. Police said Narayan and Deepa were also involved in similar frauds targeting people in Khallikote and other areas.

Police seized Rs 25,000 cash, three mobile phones, 11 fake appointment letters, one fake identity card and several documents belonging to victims, including school certificates, Aadhaar cards, PAN cards and caste certificates.

Police said the accused are being interrogated and will be produced in court. Further investigation is underway.