Fake MES hiring racket busted

PUNE: Acting on tip-off from Southern Command’s Military Intelligence (MI) unit, Kolhapur police on Friday arrested two persons for allegedly running a fake recruitment agency for civilian posts in defence department. The accused persons were allegedly running the racket for the last 10 years and they have cheated youths of lakhs of rupees. 

Based on complaint from Balkrishna Pawar (62), a farmer from Wele in Satara district, an FIR has been registered with Gadhinglaj police station (Kolhapur) against Suresh Baburao Patil and Sachin Kalantre. 

According to police, the accused had taken Rs 11.5 lakhs from Pawar’s son and his friend for job in the Military Engineer Service (MES). They had also got fake offer letters. The youths were called to Roorkee, Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, Mumbai. They suspected the duo and finally lodged the complaint. Officials said that they had also seized 17 call letters of other youths. As the accused persons did not refund all the money, they lodged an FIR with police. 

The two accused persons have been booked for cheating, forgery offences.