MUMBAI: Two men have been arrested after one of them masqueraded as a top officer in the Indian Police Service (IPS) and allegedly cheated a bank job aspirant of Rs 30 lakh by promising him a senior post with a nationalised bank. The two accused – Chembur resident Ganesh Chavan and Navi Mumbai resident Manoj Pawar – also boasted of links with top bureaucrats and later threatened to frame the job seeker in a case when he demanded his money back.
Fake documents similar to those of Central government offices, some of them with forged signatures of the Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, have been recovered from the two, said officials of the property cell of the crime branch of Mumbai police.
Deputy commissioner of police (crime) Raj Tilak Roushan confirmed the news of the arrests, but refused to elaborate, saying it is a “sensitive matter” and the probe is underway.
A complaint was filed against the two by Vinay Jadhav (28) who had met the two men to seek help for a friend who was trying for a job with a nationalised bank. The arrested man, Pawar, had told him about his “relative who is an IPS officer”, referring to the second arrested man. They had claimed that he is highly connected in bureaucratic circles in Mumbai and Delhi and could pull strings with to get any work done.
At one point of time, in 2021, the job-seeker’s friend was even called to the state police chief’s office at Colaba to meet the “IPS officer” to lend credence to their false claim and to convince the job seeker to pay up. The two accused also took the job seeker’s friend in a white car which had a placard with ‘IAS officer’ in the car.
When talks began for the amount to be paid to get a snenior officer’s post with a nationalised bank, the two men demanded Rs 1 crore which, after haggling, was brought down to Rs 90 lakh.
The job seeker agreed to pay Rs 30 lakh initially and the rest after he got his appointment letter.
However, when the job seeker’s name failed to pop up in the selection list, he and his friend revisited the state police chief office at Colaba where they learnt that the person they were looking for had no connection with the office, said an officer from the property cell.
Fake documents similar to those of Central government offices, some of them with forged signatures of the Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, have been recovered from the two, said officials of the property cell of the crime branch of Mumbai police.
Deputy commissioner of police (crime) Raj Tilak Roushan confirmed the news of the arrests, but refused to elaborate, saying it is a “sensitive matter” and the probe is underway.
A complaint was filed against the two by Vinay Jadhav (28) who had met the two men to seek help for a friend who was trying for a job with a nationalised bank. The arrested man, Pawar, had told him about his “relative who is an IPS officer”, referring to the second arrested man. They had claimed that he is highly connected in bureaucratic circles in Mumbai and Delhi and could pull strings with to get any work done.
At one point of time, in 2021, the job-seeker’s friend was even called to the state police chief’s office at Colaba to meet the “IPS officer” to lend credence to their false claim and to convince the job seeker to pay up. The two accused also took the job seeker’s friend in a white car which had a placard with ‘IAS officer’ in the car.
When talks began for the amount to be paid to get a snenior officer’s post with a nationalised bank, the two men demanded Rs 1 crore which, after haggling, was brought down to Rs 90 lakh.
The job seeker agreed to pay Rs 30 lakh initially and the rest after he got his appointment letter.
However, when the job seeker’s name failed to pop up in the selection list, he and his friend revisited the state police chief office at Colaba where they learnt that the person they were looking for had no connection with the office, said an officer from the property cell.
