7 held for running railway job racket

The Uttar Pradesh special task force arrested seven members of a gang in Agra on Thursday for allegedly duping youths by offering them railway jobs.

The arrests were made near the Agra Cantonment railway station after the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) tipped-off the police about a gang issuing fake appointment letters of jobs in the railway subsidiary, a statement said.

The accused have confessed to luring unemployed youths, who belong to smaller towns, for employment as booking clerk, announcer and cook in the IRCTC for Rs 6-7 lakh. As many as 18 such appointment letters, 17 offer letters, six cheques worth Rs 12.82 lakh and Rs 38,400 in cash were recovered from their possession, it said.

Five of the accused belong to different districts of Bihar and two hail from Kannauj district of UP, it added.