The city police busted an inter-state job racket on Tuesday and arrested two persons who had allegedly collected Rs 1.5 crore by promising railway jobs to several youths.

“Niyaz Ahmed and Mohammad Imran Khan, both in their mid-20s, were arrested in their hometown, Patna. We suspect they are part of a bigger gang,” said Damayanti Sen, the city detective chief.

“The accused have duped over 20 youths from Bihar, Rajasthan and Delhi of Rs 7 lakh each between June and October 2009. They even conducted false medical tests at a dispensary in Howrah,” an officer said.

Premjit Saini, 27, who is pursuing MCA in Calcutta, had lodged a complaint with the detective department on Sunday alleging that he had paid Rs 14 lakh to the duo for a job for himself and a relative.

“Niyaz and Imran met Premjit at a central Calcutta restaurant and introduced themselves as relatives of a senior official of the railway recruitment board. They promised him a travelling ticket examiner’s job with a monthly salary of Rs 16,000,” added the officer.

The duo had also designed a fake website — www.railwayrecruitmentboardkolkata.org — to dupe the youths.

“The duo conducted training for 25 aspirants at an abandoned railway yard in Bamangachi in Howrah. After completion of the training, they handed over fake appointment letters to the 25 youths in January,” said the officer.

Premjit realised he had been duped in February after he contacted an official of the railway recruitment board in Delhi.