Nagpur: The Cyber Cell of Nagpur Police Crime Branch raided a call centre in Chandrapur district and busted a job racket being run in the name of Prime Minister’s Skill Development Scheme. The mastermind of the job racket and his accomplice have been arrested. Nine girls running the call centre are being interrogated. The raiding cops have seized computers, laptop, colour printer, mobile phones, bogus government documents, cash etc from the call centre.
The accused duo has been identified as Pravinkumar Balmikiprasad (44), native of Gram Sangat, Alinagar, Nalanda, Bihar but presently staying in Nandgaon Pole, District Chandrapur and Arun Vinod Trivedi (32), native of Gram Bhojpur, Tehsil Sareini, Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh but presently staying Nandgaon Pole, District Chandrapur. The accused duped around 300 job seekers from 39 cities in Maharashtra and other cities across the country to the tune of lakhs. The accused, with nefarious designs in their mind, phoned 2408 persons and lured them with lucrative jobs under Prime Minister’s Skill Development Scheme. Out of these persons, 300 job seekers fell into the trap and lost Rs 4500 each in the hope of getting a job.
The sordid episode began when one of the complainants Navin Shashidharan, resident of Gautam Nagar, Gaddigodam, approached Cyber Complaints Redressal Centre (C3) of Crime Branch and told the cops that he noticed an advertisement for employment under Prime Minister’s Skill Development Scheme published in newspapers. Subsequently, he called the mentioned mobile phone numbers 9112733057 and 7517642669 and registered himself. Soon he received a call from the same numbers and the caller informed Navin that he has been selected for the post of supervisor and that he should send his educational documents, ID card, email ID to pmkeymhgovt@gmail.com. The caller also told Navin to deposit Rs 4500 in Bank of Maharashtra account 60272205896 for documentation. Believing the caller, Navin deposited the amount.
Three friends of Navin namely Shweta Kamble, Harshal Pimple and Krushnakumar Shivane too called the mobile phone numbers mentioned in the advertisement and solicited information regarding jobs in the name of Prime Minister’s Skill Development Scheme. They too were told to email the documents and deposit registration fee of Rs 4500 each in Bank of Baroda account 98350100008762 and SBI account 33468925191. Shweta Kamble, Harshal Pimple and Krushnakumar Shivane too sent the documents and deposited the amount. However, Navin and his three friends soon realised that they were taken for a ride as no job was provided to them nor money returned.
Acting on the Navin’s complaint, an offence No. 265/17 under Sections 468, 471, 420 of the IPC was registered with Sadar Police Station. During the course of investigation, the sleuths of Cyber Cell traced the calls and identified the location near water tank, Vidyanagar Ward, Ballarshah, district Chandrapur. Later the sleuths raided the place which turned out to be a call centre. The raiding cops found the mastermind Pravinkumar Balmikiprasad and Arun Vinod Trivedi running the call centre with the help of nine girls. The two accused were immediately detained and subjected to intense interrogation. The cops inspected the documents and registers at the call centre and found that the accused had phoned 2408 unemployed boys and girls and lured them with jobs in the name of Prime Minister’s Skill Development Scheme. These job seekers hailed from 39 cities of Maharashtra as well as from Goa, Ahmedabad, Meerut and other cities. Of them, 300 job seekers fell into the trap of the accused and were duped to the tune of Rs 13.50 lakh at the rate of Rs 4500 each.
The raiding Cyber Cell sleuths seized 3 computers, one laptop, one colour printer, 15 mobile phones, bogus government documents, registers, 19 SIM cards of different companies a Splendour bike (MH-34/BE 0899) and cash Rs 1.06 lakh from the accused. The accused mastermind Pravinkumar Balmikiprasad is BE and Arun Vinod Trivedi is 10th pass. They were brought to Sadar Police Station in Nagpur and placed under arrest in connection with the offence registered at the police station.
The task was accomplished by DCP (EOW) Shweta Khedkar, ACP (Cyber) Dr Ashwini Patil, APIs Vishal Mane, Prashant Bharte, PSI Mayur Chaurasia, constables Santoshsingh Thakur, Santosh Madankar, Amit Bhure, Rahul Dhote, Krishna Iwnate under the guidance of Commissioner of Police and Joint Commissioner of Police.
The city police have appealed those unemployed boys and girls who have been duped in the name of Prime Minister’s Skill Development Scheme to contact Cyber Cell or Sadar Police Station.
