Mumbai : The Pydhonie police have busted a job racket where conmen duped candidates looking for a job abroad. Their modus operandi involved approaching young men looking for a job in Middle Eastern countries, demanding huge sums of money from them and disappearing with the money.
The accused have been identified as Akram Sheikh and Sajid Sheikh and one more unidentified person. The main accused Dawood Des Pandey is still absconding. The issue came to light when Javed Sheikh, resident of Pydhonie, approached the police informing them that Akram and Sajid had come to him with an offer and had taken lakhs of rupees from him. They had then stopped answering his calls and were untraceable. The police found that the gang had duped hundreds of people in the same manner.
According to the police, Pandey, resident of Jalgaon, would approach daily wage workers and unemployed men in the neighbouring areas with a lucrative job offer in Kuwait and other Gulf countries. They would ask them to give money and passports, with a promise of returning them stamped with visas. Each candidate would be charged around Rs 4-5 lakhs. Once the money had been deposited and passports handed over, Pandey would disappear.
The police after receiving a tip, arrested Akram and Sajid and recovered more than 30 passports and fake visa documents from them. They are still looking for Pandey.
