Fake RAW officer, aide held for cheating spy job aspirants

Bengaluru: A 38-year-old commerce graduate who saw a few movies showing Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), faked to be an officer from the agency and cheated about 30 youths of Rs 60 lakh after promising them spy jobs.
The fake RAW officer, Venugopal Kulkarni, 38, was arrested from Telangana, and his associate V Aravind from Jayanagar.
CCB sleuths took up the case after Sriramachandra, 49, resident of south Bengaluru, complained that Venugopal cheated five youngsters of Rs 17 lakh after promising them jobs with RAW.
Venugopal allegedly created a fake RAW portal, issued appointment letters to aspirants, and asked them to mark their attendance on it. He also invited the aspirants to an office he rented in Bengaluru and told them they could work from there. He paid salary of Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 for a month to gain their trust. But when he stopped paying salaries after that, Sriramachandra realised Venugopal was a fraudster.