STF brings fraudster arrested in MP to Varanasi on transit remand

VARANASI: The Varanasi field unit of STF brought a fraudster, arrested in Ratlam district in Madhya Pradesh, to Varanasi on transit remand on Friday. The STF nabbed the absconding member of an interstate gang of cheats, Rajesh Kumar alias Santosh Dubey, carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head from his home district Ratlam on November 11.
According to the STF, the gang was involved in cheating people in the name of providing them jobs in foreign countries.An FIR was lodged against the gang members at Varanasi Cantt police station under sections 420, 406, 323, 342, 506, 386 and 120B of IPC in November 2019. Three other members including the kingpin Rajveer Yadav of Azamgarh, Kapil alias Bhashkar alias Bhatia of Nepal and Pawan Gandhi of Kolkata had already been arrested earlier.
Acting on a tip-off, the STF team led by inspector Anil Kumar Singh, went to Ratlam and arrested Rajesh in Gandhi Nagar locality. The investigation revealed that the gang used to advertise job offers in countries like the USA and Canada through social media platforms. Then the aspirants were asked to pay Rs 15 lakh to 20 lakh through hawala only after getting the job abroad. After negotiation the aspirants were called to Varanasi in the name of boarding the flight but on reaching the city the aspirants were made captive and compelled to talk to family members on gun point demanding for payment of the promised amount. After collecting the payments, the aspirants were freed near the railway station.
During interrogation it came to light that so far about 40 persons got trapped in the gang’s net. An Ahmadabad resident Naresh Chunnilal Modi had lodged an FIR with Phoolpur police station in Varanasi in 2017. He said that he had paid Rs. 14 lakh to them. Another victim, Tushar V Patel of Ahmedabad also lodged an FIR with Varanasi Cantt police station on December 3, 2019. He had also paid Rs. 20 lakh for getting a job abroad. Further investigation is underway.