Woman held for cheating job seekers

A 48-year-old woman was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly duping people of lakhs of rupees on the pretext of providing them government jobs in Delhi, police said.

The accused has been identified as Veshakha Gulati, a resident of Sarita Vihar, they said.

On Tuesday, a case was registered and the complainant, Vijay, a resident of Mohalla Madanpur Khadar, had alleged that he met Gulati who claimed to be working under the Sarita Vihar Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), police said.

She told him that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government did not conduct fresh open recruitment and the Delhi government has authorized her for recruitment, a senior police officer said.

Gulati also produced her ID card and an appointment letter purportedly issued by the SDM. She asked Vijay for documents after taking him into confidence, police said.

She asked him for documents, including an address proof, educational qualification certificates, bank account details, and demanded Rs 13,000 from each job aspirant through UPI in her account and her father's, the officer said.

They were also directed to give resignation to their previous organisation. After taking money from them, they were provided appointment letter, ID cards of home guard, data entry operator and assistant manager account and finance post, police said.

Later, they were asked to join at various places. Some were directed to work from home and some of them were working at her office or at her residence at Sarita Vihar, they said.

"During investigation, some other complainants approached police and also levelled similar allegations that Gulati cheated them on the promise of providing jobs in Civil Defence and she also issued forged job cards and ID cards having logo of Delhi Police and Civil Defence," Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast) R P Meena said.

According to police, the woman used to provide fake recruitment letters to the victims and used to fire them by giving irrelevant excuses around the time they expected to get their salaries.

Eleven fake ID cards issued by the accused to the complainants have been seized. Gulati has been arrested from her residence, the DCP said.

Her father Ashok Gulati (74) owns a website www.jobsinIndia and the facts are being verified regarding his involvement in the case, police said, adding that so far 20 victims have approached them.