Woman among 2 booked for duping job aspirants of Rs 22.5 lakh

Two persons, including a woman, from Maharashtra's Thane district have been booked for allegedly duping 30 people of nearly Rs 22.5 lakh on the pretext of getting them jobs abroad, police said on Thursday.

The accused, Mohammad Safique Khan and his associate Jarina Bano, ran a private firm here which claimed to be providing overseas employment, a police spokesperson said.

Last year, they allegedly took around Rs 22.5 lakh from 30 people while promising to get them employed as salesmen at a plush mall in Dubai, she said.

They provided visa to the victims along with offer letters for the job, and told them that an agent would escort them from the Dubai airport.

However, when the victims landed in Dubai earlier this year, nobody came to pick them up.

When they contacted the mall authorities there, they were informed that the offer letters given to them were fake, the official said.

Later, when the victims contacted the embassy there, they were informed that they were only granted tourist visas, which had also expired, and not the work permit, she said.

The victims somehow managed to return home and sought a refund of their money from the company.

The firm officials then gave them some cheques which bounced, the official said.

The victims on Wednesday lodged a police complaint, based on which the accused were booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 420 (cheating), 465, 468, 471 (forgery) and 406 (criminal breach of trust), she said, adding that no arrest was made so far.