New Delhi, Dec 2 (IANS): The CBI on Friday said it has booked three persons for allegedly cheating job aspirants and railway contractors, and extracting money from them by using forged letterheads of Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale.

The FIR registered in the case by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) mentioned some unidentified public servants and private persons, along with the names of three accused identified as G.C. Sridharan, A. Clement Charles and M. Pugazhendi.

Sridharan identified himself as "National Secretary/ CEC/ NDLS/ Zonal Secretary/ SWR/ UBL", while Charles claimed to be an arbitrator of the Supreme Court and a resident of Vellore in Tamil Nadu, said the FIR. Pugazhendi is mentioned in the FIR as a resident of Vellore.

On the basis of their identity, the CBI is considering them as private individuals, but started probe to know the reason for their fake identity, an official said,

The agency has filed a case under the sections for criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act against the accused following a complaint from Southern Railway.

"The three accused are alleged to have collected huge money from people seeking railway jobs and contracts. They cheated them by using bogus letterhead of Union Minister Ramdas Athawale," the CBI FIR said.

The letters written to Athawale on the purported letterhead recommended the candidates for consideration for various employment opportunities in the railways, it said, adding the three accused also used a range of other fake documents to dupe job aspirants which included appointment letters purportedly issued by the Chief Personnel Officer of the railways.