RailEnquiry

NAGPUR: The Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) anti-corruption wing sleuths on Thursday procured the remand custody till February 11 of two alleged tricksters, including the suspended head train number clerk (TNC) of Central Railways.The duo, along with another murder accused already in jail, was part of a job fraud racket, which duped job aspirants to the tune of several lakh rupees. The CBI is now also probing the roles of several others in Central Railway after the arrest of tainted head TNC Vijay Patel. The CBI aims to find out whether a nexus existed within the Central Railway administration, which helped Patel in the scam.A Central Railway source said the administration has already taken action against Patel, but now a proposal has been sent to give him major punishment.CBI had registered offences against Patel, Archana Mehta and Virendra Singh Khairwar on January 29 for their roles in duping two job-seekers, who were promised jobs in the railways against hefty payments. The victims, residents of Kamptee, were forced to cough up Rs29 lakh for the promised jobs. The complainants were taken to Central Railway hospital at Mumbai for medical check-up and later to Bhusawal in the name of training, which did not take place.The job aspirants were also given appointment letters, which turned out to be bogus when they started making enquiries. Apart from railways, the tricksters would dupe those seeking jobs in several other government departments and public sector undertakings too.

Khairwar, earlier convicted in a case of cheating, has been arrested earlier this year by MIDC police for his alleged role in a murder. CBI would take his custody later through a production warrant from the Nagpur Central Jail, where he is presently lodged.

CBI arrested Patel and Archana on Wednesday following which searches were conducted at four places. Several documents like letter heads and letters of appointment were seized, apart from three laptops, seven mobile phones and pen drives.

A CBI official said the investigating agency would try to find out how the appointment letters were faked and the authenticity of the letter heads and other documents. "We are receiving more complaints from other victims of this racket," said the official.