Vadodara: Seven residents lured by job and temporary residentship of Georgia in Europe were conned by a couple to the tune of Rs 11 lakh.
The victims were instead sent to Azerbaijan where they were even taken into police custody. The accused, Vipin Maurya and his wife Anjana, were booked in February too in a similar case.
Complainant Rajesh Dabhi, who lives in Navayard, told police that he learnt about Maurya’s job and visa consultancy business in July last year. When Dabhi met Maurya, the accused promised him visa, temporary resident card (TRC) and a job in Georgia. Dabhi and his brother-in-law Sandeep Macwan paid Rs 20,000 each to Maurya to start the visa process. Few days later, Maurya asked them to pay Rs 3.5 lakh.
On paying the money, the accused promised that until they got a job and TRC, he would take care of their stay and food. Maurya also gave an undertaking on a stamp paper, Dabhi alleged. Before Dabhi and Macwan were to leave, they were informed that as there was no direct entry into Georgia, they would first have to go to Azerbaijan from where Maurya’s agent would take them.
In August when the duo reached Azerbaijan, Maurya’s agent did not contact them. After staying for 22 days in Azerbaijan, they returned to Delhi. After returning, Maurya again promised them a job in a factory in Azerbaijan for which he took another Rs 1 lakh from them. When they again went back to Azerbaijan, they did not get the job and Maurya’s agent did not work for their TRC, the complainant alleged. Meanwhile, since their visa got expired, the duo was taken into custody by the local police. While they were in custody, they learnt that five others duped by Maurya were also there.
On getting released they returned to India and tried to contact Maurya and his wife to return their money, but the accused kept dilly dallying. Police said that besides Macwan and Dabhi, five other victims–Pawankumar Singh, Dinesh Luhar, Rushabh Mistry, Dilip Valand, Navneet Valand and Vishnu Prajapati–lost Rs 3 lakh in a similar scam.