Pics: Meryick D'Silva
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (DV)
Mangaluru, Apr 21: A man from Kerala has been accused of running a bogus institution in the city and cheating scores of aspirants of several lacs with false assurances of providing them with jobs in defence and railways.
The accused, Santosh, has gone absconding. He is said to be running an 'institution' named Academy of Career Guidance Incorporation (Trust) at Bikarnakatte here.
The matter came to light on Tuesday April 21 when around 30-35 students of the 'academy' who were allegedly duped by him gathered at the premises to demand their money back. It is alleged that the security personnel at the premises locked them up, after which the students called the police and the media.
The students said that Santosh used to get lists of aspirants who failed or got disqualified from recruitment tests for defence, railways and other government sectors, and then write to them saying that he would provide them training in his academy and subsequently jobs in the defence, railways and other sectors.
He would initially tell them that the training would be free of cost, but after they joined, he would demanding money for getting them recruited. This way, he fleeced each aspirant of anywhere between Rs 50,000 to Rs 1.5 lac.
Aspirants from Udupi, Beltanagady, Ballari, Vijaypura, Puttur and various other parts of Karnataka joined the 'training', and were given accomodation. However, the promised jobs eluded them.
When they had come on April 14, Santosh had reportedly promised to give them back their money, but thereafter he went absconding, sources said.
Speaking to daijiworld, Mahantesh from Vijayapura, one of the aspirants, said, "I have given him (Santosh) Rs 1.5 lac and mess fee of Rs 20,000. From past six months I am here and I was not even allowed to go home to see my parents. Santosh has cheated many people in the name of providing jobs in defence. He would get list of disqualified aspirants with their complete details and then dupe them. He would also make fake SSLC and PU certificates and other documents."
Chandrashekar from Vijaypura and Vishal from Belagavi also said they had given Santosh Rs 1.5 lac each.
Hanumanth from Belagavi said that he joined the academy only a month ago and he was asked to pay Rs 10,000 this month.
Another aspirant from Uppinangady, who did not want to be named, said that he too has paid Rs 1.5 lac to Santosh. Arun Kumar of Somawarpete and Yathish of Beltangady have given Rs 65,000 and Rs 50,000 respectively, they said.
Chetan from Shivamogga said that he took Rs 1 lac as loan with interest from money lenders in order to pay Santosh, and now the money lenders are troubling his parents back home.
Moreover, there are three cooks from Malda district of West Bengal working in the academy, who alleged that Santosh had paid them salaries for the past two months, and never allowed them to go home. "We have children back home and our families are hungry, but we are not allowed to meet them," they said.
On receiving information from the aspirants who were allegedly locked by the security personnel, DCP Santhosh Babu along with Kadri police inspector T D Nagaraj and team came to the spot and rescued them.
The aspirants also alleged that Santosh had previously given them cheques that had bounced. It is also learnt that there are two cases of fraud in Karnataka high court against Santosh, but both are currently under stay order.
Speaking to reporters, DCP Santhosh Babu said, "The students have alleged that Santhosh from Kerala is involved in providing fake SSLC, PU and caste certificates, and has cheated students of lacs of rupees with assurance to provide jobs in defence and railways. I have instructed the police inspector to get a search warrant from the court and also book him under relevant sections for committing fraud and for cheque bounce."