Fast forward to September 13, 2024, and Vijayan found himself at the Cheemeni police station, reporting a staggering fraud. Lalchandh and Sasi K, a former CPM panchayat member from Chokli near Thalassery, had allegedly swindled him of Rs 10.20 lac with promises of a peon’s position for his son.
According to Vijayan, he paid Rs 3.10 lac to Lalchandh at Thalassery railway station in August 2023 and an additional Rs 7.10 lac to Sasi at a Chennai lodge in February 2024. The con artists had assured him that the Railways was fast-tracking recruitment to fill posts left vacant due to the pandemic.
Unknown to Vijayan, he was entangled in an elaborate job scam orchestrated by Geetha Rani (65), also known as Geetha Rajagopal from Ayyanthole, Thrissur.
Rani, a veteran in the art of deception, has been running this fraudulent operation for nearly two decades. The Cheemeni police have now identified her as the fifth accused in the case. Joining her in the alleged conspiracy are Sarath S Sivan alias Ajith and his wife Ebhi from Punalur, Kollam district.
The case has widened dramatically. On the same day Vijayan reported his loss and the Pinarayi police under the Kannur City Commissionerate filed an FIR against the same five individuals, based on a separate complaint from another victim who lost Rs 25 lac. “This is the second complaint against them at our station. The first one involved a loss of Rs 10.20 lac,” revealed an officer at Pinarayi station.
Further investigation by the Thalassery police uncovered that the gang had also defrauded two other job seekers, A K Sreekumar from Koyod and his brother-in-law Arun from Iritty, of Rs 36.5 lac. Promised Railway clerk positions, these victims made payments at Thalassery railway station and in Chennai in November 2023, only to receive forged appointment letters and instructions to report to an office in Bengaluru. They discovered the scam when they arrived at the office to find it was a fake front.
Similar cases have popped up at Payyannur and Chakkarakkal police stations, with 15 cases registered in Kannur district alone. Four additional complaints have surfaced in Kozhikode.
Thalassery Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Shahansha K S noted that Geetha Rani’s criminal career spans several decades. Arrested for the first time in 2007, she has faced multiple charges for similar scams. In her latest operation, which began in 2023, she and her network have reportedly swindled over Rs 1 crore within Kannur city limits alone. Across Kannur, Kasaragod, and Kozhikode, the total amount defrauded is believed to be double that. “It is unfortunate that most of their victims are graduates,” Shahansha commented.
The police have apprehended Geetha Rani in Thiruvananthapuram and Sarath S Sivan alias Ajith in Punalur as of September 12. Sasi K, the former panchayat member, was arrested earlier.
The gang used a recruitment rate card detailing available jobs in Railway Groups C and D, and their corresponding prices. They charged Rs 10.20 lac for Group D positions like helper and peon, and up to Rs 35 lac for Group C roles such as clerk and train manager.
Shahansha explained, “The racket was exceptionally well-informed about Railway job openings. They used fake Railway letterheads and seals to create convincing appointment letters. They misled victims by claiming jobs were available through MLA and MP quotas, which don’t exist. It’s clear that someone, possibly from within the system, is either leading or guiding this operation due to its level of sophistication.”
Geetha Rani’s fraud career includes at least seven previous cases. In 2007, she was arrested for pretending to be a member of the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) and defrauding a job seeker of Rs 80,000. In June 2017, she was again arrested for deceiving 17 people out of Rs 29 lac with fake Indian Army job offers. Despite numerous arrests, she continues to exploit job seekers, now focusing on the northern regions of Kerala.