The police on Monday arrested three persons from Mumbai for allegedly duping youths in Odisha on the pretext of providing jobs in Israel.
The accused—Babulahari Gouda, 42, Mahesh Ramchandra Lokhande, 39, and Kiran Shashikant Ghumre, 51 — were arrested from a hotel in Bhubaneswar’s Kharvel Nagar area, where they were conducting fake interviews, said Bhubaneswar DCP Jagmohan Meena.
The arrests were made based on a complaint filed by Sunil Kumar Sah, Protector of Emigrants, Bhubaneswar (Ministry of External Affairs). The complaint alleged that the trio was conducting unauthorised recruitment interviews for jobs in Israel.
“Investigation revealed that the accused circulated fake advertisements on social media and used forged documents resembling official notifications from the Ministry of Labour and Employment to mislead job seekers,” Meena said. “They charged ₹5,000 as registration fees and promised to collect ₹70,000 once fake offer letters were issued.”
None of the three had authorisation from the ministry of external affairs or any registered recruitment agency, the police said. Swift action by police prevented further losses, Meena added.
Sources said the trio was part of a larger racket that operated across the country, duping job aspirants through such fake recruitment drives. Police are investigating how many such interviews had previously been conducted in Bhubaneswar.
Several incriminating documents, including resumes of candidates, forged offer letters, and four mobile phones, were seized from the accused.
EOW busts SBI loan fraud racket, four arrested
In a separate development, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Crime Branch arrested four persons in connection with a ₹8.1 crore loan fraud at the State Bank of India (SBI).
The accused—Smruti Ranjan Sethy, M. Dibyashree, Jyoti Ranjan Niranjan Behera, and Debasish Behera—allegedly conspired to avail 234 Xpress Credit loans from SBI branches in Jaydev Vihar (92 loans) and Damana Chhak (142 loans) between November 2021 and January 2023.
According to the EOW, fake employment records were used to fraudulently avail the loans in the names of individuals who claimed to work for companies such as Capital Trust Ltd., Falcon Marine Exports Ltd., Muthoot Microfin Ltd., and G4S Secure Solutions Pvt. Ltd., among others.
The loans, once disbursed, turned non-performing assets (NPAs), resulting in an outstanding of ₹4.78 crore. Of the loan amounts, funds
ranging from ₹50,000 to over ₹19 lakh were traced to the accounts of the arrested accused, who allegedly acted as middlemen and forged documents for financial gain, the EOW said.