Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offence Wing (EOW), Odisha, arrested one Akashpu Veera Chaitanya, late Akashpu Basava Raju, from the Palem police station area in Visakhapatnam on Sunday and produced him before the Designated Court in Cuttack on Monday.
Akashpu Veera Chaitanya is accused of entering into a criminal conspiracy with mastermind Md. Sanaullah of Hyderabad, Surath Dalai of Balasore, and others floated a fake advertisement on a fake website and in the local dailies of different states offering job opportunities. On the pretext of application fees for the jobs, they collected Rs 1000 from each candidate and cheated the job aspirants across the nation to the tune of crores of rupees. During the investigation, it was found that the job aspirants were cheated of Rs 60 lakh and the amount was deposited in the account of accused AV Chaitanya.
This racket was being run from Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad but was operating in at least six states, including, Odisha, Jammu & Kashmir, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.
During the investigation, it was revealed that advertisements had been published by one newly created fraud organisation “Aided-Schools Welfare Society” in which it was mentioned that applications are invited from eligible candidates for non-teaching posts in Aided-Schools in Odisha for different posts like development officer, welfare officer, school supervisor, school clerks, school attenders and watchmen with specific eligibility and remuneration and vacancies. The last date of online application for the above posts was 10.01.2024. The salary offered was from Rs 28,000 to Rs 40,000 per month.
