(News) Fake civic set-up unearthed in Jhansi

Fake civic set-up unearthed in Jhansi

        Fake job rackets are passe. In Uttar Pradesh, new-age fraudsters are redefining trickery. Authorities here have unearthed a fully functional "branch" office of a "Nagar Nigam" in Jhansi.

The office, run by an employee of Jhansi Nagar Nigam, not only employed over 20 people, but was also performing civic works and collecting taxes and even issuing birth and death certificates. It was only after the authorities got a whiff that the person running it, Shyam Valmiki alias Shyam Netaji, was caught.

Jhansi district magistrate (DM) Rajeev Agarwal, shocked by the manner in which the entire racket was operating, says: "It would've been difficult for me to believe that a racket like this could exist, had we not actually stumbled upon this."

Almost all the senior district officials admit that some of the JNN employees must have been complicit — keeping mum because the prime accused "took care" of their "interests".

The racket was unearthed when some of the sweepers appointed by Valmiki went to senior JNN officials to complain that their salaries were being released by the branch office.

"We were shocked to hear this as we ourselves weren't aware that our department had a branch office in Jhansi," says Senior Swasthya Adhikari (SSA) Dr R Kulshreshtra.

Although a team from the local Sipri Bazar police station reached the fake JNN branch office and searched its premises, no formal FIR was lodged till late Sunday night.

Police believe the racket was initially confined to fake appointment of sweepers. Valmiki's idea, according to the police, would have primarily been to pocket Rs 40 lakh in the name of ensuring their appointment and then disappear.

"But he later seems to have decided to carry on with the office as it didn't appear to be a loss-making proposition. And when he tried to change his decision, things went out of hand," said a police officer.

According to Anirudh Singh Yadav, posted as head supervisor of sweepers at Valmiki’s fake office, "There was hardly any scope for suspicion because, after submitting the papers, we went for a medical examination and were provided certificates from the office of the Nagar Swathya Adhikari (NSA), Dr Bharadwaj."

The office had been set up 7 km from the city and a huge signboard of Jhansi Nagar Nigam was placed there.

Courtesy : The Times Of India