Promised job abroad, Arki youth duped of Rs1.25 lakh

Tribune News Service

Solan, November 13

A youth from a remote village in Arki subdivision has reportedly been duped of Rs1.25 lakh by a placement agent on the pretext of being provided a job with a shipping company in Dubai or Singapore.

Pankaj Kumar said he had befriended a placement agent, Siddharth, on Facebook in April. “Siddharth told me that his company Shivay Ship Management Private Limited could provide me a job in Dubai or Singapore for a three-year agreement for merely Rs25,000. He further interviewed me at his Delhi-based office at District Centre, Janakpuri, where I was told that I would be paid $550 a month. I was told to bear the cost of Rs65,000 for securing the visa as well as the ticket out of the total expenditure of Rs1.25 lakh,” Pankaj said.

He said he paid Rs20,000 and Rs40,000 in two accounts of Axis Bank. “I was later asked to pay Rs30,000 more as there was a long queue of people wanting to avail the opportunity and the cost of arranging the visa and ticket were high,” he said.

He was then called to Delhi on April 29 and told that his flight was scheduled for April 30. “But upon reaching there, I was told to pay another Rs10,000 to hasten the process as the company was facing some problem. I again waited for two months but to no avail. When I contacted Siddharth on phone, he asked to deposit Rs20,000 more to hasten the process,” Pankaj said.

He said further efforts to contact Siddharth telephonically failed as he had blacklisted his number and when Pankaj went to meet him at his office in Delhi, he was told that he could get a job in Iran, but not Dubai or Singapore. Pankaj refused to take that offer as his friend who had gone for a similar job in Iran had a bitter experience of not being paid any salary.

A case under Section 420 (cheating) of the IPC has been registered at Baga in Arki subdivision and further probe is underway.