LUCKNOW: An Ayurvedic doctor and a fraudster who duped around 500 unemployed youths by luring them with government jobs in the last 12 years were finally arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (UPSTF) on Saturday.
The accused, identified as Dr Rajesh Ram of Jankipuram, Lucknow, and Durga Sharan Mishra of Sitapur, were nabbed near Baikunth Dham.
The STF sleuths recovered several fake appointment letters of metro rail, fertilizer department, bank passbooks, and ATM cards from the accused.
Mishra told police that he had duped over 500 jobseekers and produced films from the money he got by duping the unemployed youths.
ASP, STF, Amit Nagar, said the prime accused Durga Sharan is a native of Ambedkarnagar and had shifted to Sitapur district after several complaints were filed against him. He was jailed in the year 2009 but took to crime again four years after his release from jail. He befriended Dr Rajesh Ram and roped him in the crime by offering him a share of the money.
“In his confession, Durga Sharan said he used to pose as an officer in food corporation and trapped youths by luring them with jobs in FCI, secretariat, health and transport departments, Indian Oil, Army and Railways. They used to give fake appointment letters to their victims and used to conduct some training to win their trust,” said Nagar.
Mishra said he had started a film production house and produced seven films and several albums, but they failed to hit the screen, said officials.
Nagar added that Dr Rajesh Ram said he stepped into the world crime in 2007 at Mishra’s behest. He said his image was clean and people easily trusted him as he is a doctor. The accused took Rs 3-5 lakh from each jobseeker.
“The accused spent the money on lavish lifestyle and went on foreign trips,” he added.
The team was working on the case for a long time and was keeping a close watch on Mishra, the prime accused wanted in several cases of fraud, Nagar further added.
Mishra is a named accused in 11 cases of fraud out of which 10 are registered at different police stations in Lucknow.
