A 22-year-old BTech student has been agonisingly trying for over a week to get Ranchi police register an FIR against two persons who swindled him of Rs 14,550 on the pretext of ensuring his placement in a top-notch cement company.

Badal Singh, final year student of civil engineering at Nilai Educational Trust's Group of Institutions, Thakurgaon, 30km from Ranchi, had lodged a complaint at Pandra police station on February 11. But police neither filed an FIR based on his complaint nor did they initiate a probe into the matter.

"I have furnished all the necessary details. But whenever I call police, they only give me assurances," Singh said.

A native of Kaimur district in Bihar, Singh comes from a lower middle class family.

"My father is a small farmer and my mother had borrowed money to fund my education. I am a final year student and I cannot afford to stay unemployed because of my poor financial condition. I was therefore looking for a job," Singh, who stays at a rented accommodation at Piska More in Pandra, 7km from the district headquarters, said.

Pandra police station in-charge, Sambhu Kumar, said he was not sure whether FIR has been lodged. "I remember the boy was asked to furnish further details," he added.

On January 29, Badal came to know through a recruitment site - www.freshersworld.com - that UltraTech Cement Limited needed freshers as site engineer, following which he contacted them.

"When I contacted, they identified themselves as Kajal Jha (processing manager) and Rohan (documentation in-charge), officials of a reputed job portal. I was told that the cement company has hired their portal for recruitment and they have their office at Nehru Place in Delhi," Badal added.

On February 6, Kajal and Rohan arranged for a telephone interview of Badal and told him that he has been selected. Badal was then asked to deposit Rs 14,550 as processing and document verification fee to an SBI account, which was opened at Agwanpur branch of the bank in Bihar's Saharsa district. Following this, Badal deposited the amount and received the offer letter. He was asked to join on March 3 and report to UltraTech's Ranchi office.

However, on February 11 when Badal visited the Ranchi office, the officials of the cement company told him they have no clue about his appointment. "I was told no such recruitment has been approved of," Badal said.

Realising that he has been duped, Badal called up the duo and demanded refund of his money. "They asked me to furnish my account number so that money can be refunded. But it is yet to be done. Now they don't pick my phone any more," Badal said.

When The Telegraph called up one of the numbers, a woman, who identified herself as Shreya, claimed that the number belongs to one Ansari Consultancy in Delhi.

When asked about the case, she said it was a matter between the company and its client.

Ranchi SP Kishore Kaushal said, "I will look into the matter if the police station has not taken up investigation properly. FIR must be registered if there are sufficient grounds for that."