Ropar cops bust Army job racket

Strap: 5 held; recruitment centre staff, non-commissioned officers under lens

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Would charge Rs5 lakh

The recruitment gang charged Rs3 lakh to Rs5 lakh from every successful job aspirant

The police say the gang had secured at least 26 recruitments in Sikh, J&K and Artillery regiments

On basis of fake documents, Haryana youths were made to appear in job drives in Punjab where competition was less

Tribune News Service

Ropar, January 19

With the arrest of five persons, the district police claim to have busted a statewide Army recruitment racket being run in Punjab for the past more than five years.

Those arrested have been identified as Amit Kumar and Manoj Kumar of Ferozepur Cantonment area, Manjit Singh and Sunil of Jind in Haryana and Yogesh Kumar of Ludhiana.

Addressing the media, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Swapan Sharma said 29 Aadhaar cards, fake document sets of 48 individuals and Rs 8 lakh in cash were recovered from the accused. Sixtyeight attestation stamps, including of the designation of SHO, tehsildar and municipal councillor, were seized too.

“The gang had secured the recruitment of at least 26 persons in the Sikh, J&K and Artillery regiments on the basis of fake caste and domicile certificates. They would charge between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 5 lakh from every recruit,” the SSP said.

The police official said clerical staff at the Army recruitment centres in Patiala, Ferozepur and Ludhiana were allegedly hand in glove with the accused and would verify fake documents in lieu of monetary benefits. He said initial investigations had found that that Yogesh of Salem Tabri in Ludhiana was the kingpin of the gang, which had so far prepared fake documents for nearly 150 individuals, mostly hailing from Haryana.

The police said Manjeet and Sunil would allegedly make youths from Haryana appear in recruitment drives in Punjab where the competition was “less”. Manoj and Amit would allegedly hunt for recruits in Fazilka, Moga, Faridkot and Ferozepur districts.

The SSP said the names of several non-commissioned officers posted in Ludhiana, Gwalior, Ferozepur and Bhubaneshwar too had figured in the scam following the questioning of the accused. These officers were allegedly a link between the recruiting authorities and the aspirants willing to join the Army, he said.