Woman cheats army job aspirants, held

Bangalore: A 37-year-old woman was nabbed by military intelligence officials and handed over to Halasur police for allegedly cheating several youths, promising them jobs in army and issuing fake appointment orders. Police suspect the accused had inside connections.

The accused, Sujatha, a resident of KGF, would pose as army recruitment officer and carried a fake identity card. “She cheated youths from Karnataka, Kerala, AP and Tamil Nadu, claiming she will get them a job in the army. She used to take Rs 20,000-50,000 from them as advance. She told her victims to pay Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh after the appointment, so their suspicions aren’t aroused,” police said.

“Job aspirants were given fake appointment letters the day they paid the advance. She told them that they had been appointed as sepoys. She had fake rubber stamps of senior army officers to create offer letters,” the police added.

“She has given them appointment orders in the letter heads of Madras Engineering Group, Army Service Corps (ASC) Centre, military police and other regiments of the Indian Army. It is suspected that she was in contact some army staff, who helped her. We are looking into whether or not army staff were involved,” police said.

“Preliminary investigations revealed she had cheated over 100 youths. Most of them hail from rural areas. Before giving them the order letter, she used to take them near army campuses to make them believe she was a senior officer. It is also learnt that in some instances she even used to wear army uniform while meeting aspirants. The cheating came to light when people started coming to military centres with the fake appointment orders. The military intelligence launched an investigation and nabbed the accused,” the police explained. Halasur police have registered an FIR in this connection and arrested her.