Maharashtra Orders Probe Into Fake Pune Municipal Corporation Job Racket
The Maharashtra government on Monday ordered a suo motu inquiry into a massive recruitment racket operating in Pune that has defrauded unemployed youth of lakhs of rupees. The syndicate allegedly issued fake appointment letters for jobs in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and forged experience certificates for the IT sector.
The decision was announced in the Legislative Council by Minister for Industries Uday Samant, following a calling attention motion raised by Congress MLCs Satyajeet Tambe and Bhai Jagtap. Minister Samant assured the House that the Home Department would conduct an impartial investigation into the gangs.
During the discussion, MLC Satyajeet Tambe revealed that the fraud network has expanded from government recruitment into the private IT sector. He stated that gangs are fabricating fake experience certificates, Form-16s, salary slips, and bank statements of major companies like TCS to exploit job seekers.
According to Tambe, the suspects extorted between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh from each candidate. The fraud came to light after a Bengaluru-based company conducted a background verification of candidates.
MLC Bhai Jagtap named three suspects in the House: Nilesh Rathod of Akola, Bharatlal Pandey, and Abhinav Mishra. Minister Samant confirmed that the government would thoroughly investigate the roles of these three individuals. If found guilty, they could face up to 10 years of imprisonment.
The Minister also addressed a specific case where a complainant withdrew their grievance after receiving Rs 50 lakh of the allegedly defrauded Rs 70 lakh. Despite the withdrawal, Samant stated that the government would proceed with the suo motu investigation as the same suspect's name had appeared in three different complaints.
BJP MLC Pravin Pote questioned the delay in police action, noting that a complaint had been lodged on January 30 but no concrete action had been taken for six months. In response, Minister Samant stated that instructions would be issued to verify similar fake certificate rackets across all police commissionerates in Maharashtra.
