Five cases of Army recruitment scams busted since Oct. 2023
Nadeem Inamdar
Publishing date: 06 July 2024
Published in: Hindustan Times
n September 2023, in a joint MI-Wanowrie police operation, one Ranjeet Kumar Rajendra Singh, 33, a resident of Coimbatore, was arrested for posing as an official working with the records’ branch of MI and cheating four army job aspirants of ₹12.80 lakh
There have been at least five cases of arrest of fake recruitment agents in joint operations involving the police and military intelligence (MI) wing of the southern command from October 2023 till July 3, 2024. Most of the arrested accused have turned out to be army deserters who fleeced their victims with fake- army uniforms and army identity cards.
In May 2023, the MI southern command busted a recruitment scam involving five persons in Ahmednagar wherein the accused had forged a call letter and printed counterfeit business cards to dupe several gullible youths by promising them recruitment in the Indian Army.
In June 2023, MI and crime branch sleuths arrested the mastermind of a recruitment racket – Pramod Bhimrao Yadav, 27, from Jat taluka in Sangli district – for impersonating an army officer and duping 13 youths of different sums ranging from ₹90,000 to ₹4.50 lakh and a woman of ₹16 lakh by promising them recruitment in the armed forces.
In September 2023, in a joint MI-Wanowrie police operation, one Ranjeet Kumar Rajendra Singh, 33, a resident of Coimbatore, was arrested for posing as an official working with the records’ branch of MI and cheating four army job aspirants of ₹12.80 lakh. The accused was booked under sections 406, 420, 467, 471, 470 and 171 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). His role in defrauding another 16 people by promising them recruitment in the armed forces in exchange for money was investigated.
In October 2023, a joint MI-Pune police operation led to the arrest of Pandurang Karale, 45, of Sangli district after an FIR was lodged against him at Kondhwa police station for swindling 42 young aspirants of ₹1.8 crore by falsely promising them recruitment to the Indian Army.
In May 2024, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) lodged a case against lieutenant colonel Vikash Raizada and havildar Sushant Nayak who were posted in the southern command head office, Pune. Both were accused of accepting bribes from job aspirants in 2021. Lieutenant colonel Raizada was arrested in 2022 for irregularities in the 2021 recruitment process for various posts including leaking of answer keys.
Colonel (retd.) A S Verma said, “Those arrested for fake recruitment are a serious menace as gullible and promising youths fell to their bait. Citizens must go as per the laid down procedure of the government and never approach touts failing which, they are bound to be cheated. The army recruitment process is merit-based and everything is documented.”
Deputy commissioner of police/DCP (crime) Amol Zende said, “The crime branch has always been proactive in registering cases against such touts whenever inputs were shared by the agencies. We have been successfully carrying out our joint operations and helping citizens who have been cheated by such elements.”
“The army authorities have time and again advised candidates to beware of touts who make false promises and extort money from them in the name of assured selection. The army has always maintained that recruitment is a fair, transparent and automated process and no person can influence the outcome,” Zende said.