Representative image of fraud.
Credit: iStock Photo
Bengaluru: The Halasuru Gate police have registered a case against six people for allegedly defrauding two people of nearly Rs 23 lakh by promising them permanent jobs at Bescom.
The suspects named in the FIR, registered on August 14, are Praveen M Somankatti, Vignesh Hegade, Venkateshiah HR, Shivanna T, Srinivasa TN, and Rajanesh.
According to the complainant B Lohith Gowda, he first met Somankatti and Hegade in 2021, and the other suspects through them. The group claimed to be employees of KPTCL and Bescom and promised Gowda that they could secure him jobs.
"They showed me fake job order copies," Gowda, 41, alleged in the FIR. "Somankatti presented an ID card, claiming he worked at Bescom."
Gowda further alleged that Venkateshiah and Shivanna, claiming to work for the Railways, assured him that they could also secure jobs in various departments, including Bescom, KPTCL, Bengaluru Metro and the airport.
Somankatti and Hegade allegedly convinced Gowda’s associates Arun K and Lokesh R to pay Rs 23 lakh. After receiving the money, the suspects provided forged job orders for positions such as junior assistant and senior assistant, claiming to place the victims in the Bescom offices on MG Road and Jalahalli as outside contractors.
“They said the jobs would be made permanent after 18 months,” Gowda told the police. “They even asked them to work without pay, claiming salaries would come directly from Bescom's executive engineer once the positions were made permanent.”
Several of his friends, family members and other job seekers also paid the suspects. “When I asked for an update in March 2023, they told me to wait for another six months. They also threatened me. Later, I discovered that the job orders were fake.”
The Halasuru Gate police have booked the suspects under IPC sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), and 506 (criminal intimidation).
“The suspects have not yet been arrested,” a police officer told DH.