The Aryavarth Express
New Delhi [India]: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday carried out nationwide search operations against an organised gang involved in a large-scale fake government job scam that allegedly duped job aspirants by offering fraudulent appointments across multiple government departments.
The searches began early in the morning and are being conducted at 15 locations across the country. The operations are being led by the ED’s Patna Zonal Office, in close coordination with state police forces. Raids are underway at three locations in Bihar, two in West Bengal, four in Kerala, one each in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, and four in Uttar Pradesh.
According to officials, the locations being searched include Muzaffarpur (one) and Motihari (two) in Bihar; Kolkata (two) in West Bengal; Ernakulam, Pandalam, Adoor and Kodur (one each) in Kerala; Chennai (one) in Tamil Nadu; Rajkot (one) in Gujarat; and Gorakhpur (two), Prayagraj (one) and Lucknow (one) in Uttar Pradesh.
Investigators said the scam initially surfaced in the name of the Indian Railways but was later found to have expanded to more than 40 government organisations and departments. These include the Forest Department, Railway Recruitment Board (RRB), Indian Post, Income Tax Department, various High Courts, Public Works Department (PWD), Bihar Government, Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Rajasthan Secretariat and several others.
Officials familiar with the probe said the accused used fake email accounts designed to impersonate official government domains to issue forged appointment and joining letters to unsuspecting candidates.
“To gain the confidence of victims, the accused even paid salaries for two to three months in some cases. Victims were made to believe they had been appointed to posts such as RPF personnel, Travelling Ticket Examiners (TTEs) and technicians in the Indian Railways,” officials said.
Further investigations are underway to trace the money trail and identify additional victims and beneficiaries of the scam.
