Fake army recruitment racket busted in Pune; mastermind arrested

Pune: A fake army recruitment racket targeting young aspirants from Pune and neighbouring Sangli district in Maharashtra has been busted with the arrest of over a dozen people, officials said on Friday.

According to officials, the Military Intelligence wing of the army's Southern Command based here alerted the Pune Police crime branch about the racket in which the aspirants were duped of Rs 90,000-Rs 4.5 lakh by promising them jobs in the army. Pramod Bhimrao Yadav, the alleged mastermind of the racket, has been arrested, they said. Yadav, a resident of Jath village in Sangli district, is alleged to have cheated a police constable of Rs 16 lakh.

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The local police and intelligence officials have so far detected about Rs 46 lakh in his bank accounts, they said. Officials alleged that the racket was functioning by issuing "fabricated" call letters and identity cards to the aspirants.

The agencies also found that Yadav, the son of an ex-serviceman, married for the fourth time in May and lied to his family that he was working in the army. A rising trend of such incidents is seen in Maharashtra as the local youth is desperate to join the armed forces and other government organisations. The effort of the defence and police organisations is to save these youngsters from being conned, they added.