Bareilly, Sep 24 (PTI) The Bareilly police here have busted a gang allegedly cheating Army Agniveer recruitment aspirants by promising to help them clear physical and medical tests and arrested five of its members, officials said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Pradeep Kumar Sharma, Vishal Yadav, Rajveer alias Kailash, Dharmendra Singh and Noor Ahmad.
Police have recovered six mobile phones, Rs 9,100 in cash, a motorcycle, a scooter, forged documents and fake Aadhaar cards from their possession. One gang member, identified as Asif, is absconding.
Superintendent of Police (City) Manush Parik said, “The action was carried out on September 23 near the Harmajan Gate of the Jat Regimental Centre. The gang members allegedly posed as Army or hospital personnel and assured candidates that they could facilitate their selection in return for money.”
During interrogation, police found that Sharma runs physical coaching under the name ‘Dixit Defence Academy’ in Chaubari and allegedly targeted candidates who feared they might be declared unfit, he said.
“Yadav had earlier worked as a sanitation worker in the medical corps at the Lucknow centre and allegedly used that experience to gain the candidates’ trust. Noor Ahmad allegedly introduced himself as a carpenter at a military hospital and claimed to have contacts with senior officers,” the SP said.
According to police, Asif posed as a senior Army officer before the candidates, helping the gang convince them that their selection could be facilitated. The members allegedly divided the money among themselves after candidates were selected.
Police said examination of the accused’s mobile phones yielded WhatsApp chats, medical unfit certificates, screenshots of admit cards and evidence of online transactions. Copies of Aadhaar cards bearing different names and dates of birth, recruitment programme documents and medical-related papers were also recovered from the boot of the scooter.
A case has been registered against the accused under Section 340(forgery) and 61(criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and other relevant provisions. Further investigation is underway, police added. PTI COR KIS NB
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