Jamshedpur: City police have busted a three-month-old job racket with the arrest of a former Tata Motors employee on Sunday night.

Henry David, a Birsanagar resident who took voluntary retirement at 55 in 2015, is accused of taking money from aspirants with the promise of jobs at Tata Lockheed Martin Aerostructures Limited in Hyderabad and other Tata Group companies.

City SP Prabhat Kumar said police were looking for David's key aide - Milind Todde, also a resident of Birsanagar - who is absconding.

"From the complaints we have received so far, the duo have swindled over 22 youths out of Rs 36 lakh in three months. They used fake letterheads of Tata Group companies. Various administrative posts like manager, assistant manager and junior clerks were offered with salaries in the excess of Rs 40,000 a month. In return, job seekers were asked to pay three months' salary in advance as commission," Kumar said.

The racket was busted after one of the aspirants, Chandrasekhar Singh of Vidyapati Nagar in Golmuri, suspected foul play and lodged a police complaint on Sunday. "Acting on the complaint, we laid a trap and caught David red-handed near his house in Birsanagar Zone 2 while he was taking money from Chandrasekhar," the SP said.

The job seeker was promised a salary of Rs 40,000 as a manager in Hyderabad in May. However, in August, he was told that his remuneration had been increased and before taking the offer letter, he would have to pay Rs 2 lakh as commission. That is when Chandrasekhar approached police.

SP Kumar said police had seized wads of Tata Group company letterheads from David's home. "We have also recovered Aadhaar cards of aspirants and fake offer letters. We are trying to trace Todde to recover the money and acquire information on more persons involved in the racket, if any," he added.