Man held in alleged job racket fraud

Byculla police have arrested a 31-year-old man for allegedly duping at least 16 persons to the tune of Rs 2 lakh on the pretext of providing them jobs in Mantralaya. The accused — identified as Kirda Mangute — had reportedly invested the money generated through the fraud in purchase of a property, police said.

According to the police, complainant Ramprakash Mane resides in Mazgaon's Nariyal Wadi. "Few months ago Mane had come in contact with Mangute, who promised to get him a job in Mantralaya. Mane paid Rs 7500 to Mangute for various forms and processing fees for the job," said an officer from Byculla police station.

He added: "Later Mangute went into hiding. Mane then made inquiries about Mangute and learnt that he had duped several others on similar pretext. Mane then lodged a police complaint in this regard. Mangute was recently nabbed after which he admitted of having duped several people to the tune of Rs 2 lakh," the officer said.

Mangute reportedly told the police that he had invested the fraud money in a property in Neral and had made a down-payment of Rs6.50 lakh which was generated from the fraud. "We have seized his mobile phone, SIM card and Rs 17000 cash," said the officer.