Four of the six arrested persons at Kotwali police station in Patna on Friday. Picture by Jai Prakash

Job racketeers in the state have taken to a new modus operandi — to prey upon gullible youths in other states of the country through newspaper advertisements.

A police team on Friday morning raided an office in an upscale commercial complex under Kotwali police station and busted a fake job racket by nabbing six men involved in its operation.

Sources said around 11am, a group of around 30 men in their twenties and thirties from different cities in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana approached Kotwali police station, accusing a placement agency of duping them of lakhs with the promise of government jobs. The police formed a team and raided an office in the upscale Dumrao Palace commercial complex.

Sources added that theracketeers published advertisements in newspapers offering lucrative jobs in other states.

Aman Kumar, the station house officer of Kotwali police station, told The Telegraph: “We managed to nab six persons during the raid on a plush office. Further investigations are on. The job aspirants included a woman who turned up at the police station claiming to have been cheated. Each person paid the agency between Rs 10,000 and Rs 1 lakh or more to secure jobs in the state forests and environment department.”

“Following so many cases of job rackets being busted, gangs now know that aspirants in the state are hard to trap. So all advertisements in this case were published in newspapers in Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, offering attractive salaries. Interviews were conducted in Patna and money taken from them. The victims have stated that they became suspicious after their joining dates were repeatedly cancelled,” another police officer said.

Seema Sahu, a Bhopal resident, said she paid Rs 10,000 to the agency after seeing an advertisement in a Bhopal newspaper. “I appeared for an interview last month in which they said that I was selected. But I was asked to wait. I came to Patna again two days back and found many others like me. Then we suspected of some foul play and came to the police station,” she said.

Police had busted similar job rackets on March 16, being run from a flat in Adarsh Colony at Kidwaipuri under Buddha Colony police station.