The police have registered a criminal offence against officials of a shipping services office at Belapur and are probing a job fraud racket.
The company had promised shipping jobs to aspirants and took money from them. At least 20 persons are believed to have been duped by the accused persons.
The CBD Belapur police said the complainant in the case is a 45-year-old man from Kerala. He has a diploma in hotel management and was in search of a job. He also holds a Continuous Discharge Certificate (CDC) which is a seafarer's identity document.
A police officer said the complainant was looking for a job as a seaman, and through one of his friends learnt about a Belapur-based office that promised jobs in the shipping sector. In March this year, the victim visited their office where office personnel informed him about a seaman’s job in Dubai.
The accused persons told the complainant that the processing fee would be Rs 1.55 lakh. In a span of two months, he paid the said amount in cash to the accused persons. For this he was given a receipt and was informed that once the international flight services resume, he would be given a copy of the agreement and tickets as well.
In June, however, the complainant was informed by one of his friends that the said office had shut down its operations.
The police said the complainant visited the Belapur officer and found it shut. When his efforts to reach the officials failed, he and other job aspirants realised that they had been duped.
A case was registered by the police on October 6 under sections 34 (common intention), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code.
