Bhubaneswar, Oct 26: Two men were arrested for duping several youths on the pretext of finding them job in the Shipping Corporation of India at Baseli Sahi in Puri, 60 kilometers from the capital city.

Sandip Mohapatra, 21, and Chandan Behera, 29, were scrutinising the certificates of around 500 aspirants at Nilachal Narayan Ayurveda College when some of the aspirants suspected foul play. They got to know about the fraud when they did not find any recruitment notice on the website of ministry of shipping.

Later they caught hold of both Behera and Mohaptra and handed them over to the police. “They had assured us job in the Shipping Corporation of India. But we did not find any such job notice on the website of the ministry,” alleged Lingaraj Sahu, an aspirant.

Further investigation by the police revealed that the duo had put an advertisement in a vernacular daily on October 7 and had taken Rs 300 and Rs 250 from boys and girls respectively as registration fee.

“Today they were scrutinising the certificates of the candidates. They had promised them lucrative jobs and had collected registration fee from around 1,000 such aspirants,” said a police official.

However, the duo denied the allegations and said that they were conducting a recruitment drive.

“We were taking interviews and were verifying certificates for a senior post in Shipping Corporation of India which has its head office in Mumbai. As the model code of conduct is in place in Maharashtra, our website is blocked, but an advertisement was published in news papers on October 7,” said Mohapatra.

Later, police arrested both of them and forwarded them to the court. The cops have also seized two identity cards which show them as employees of Indian Marine Force. “We have arrested the duo under section 419 (punishment for cheating by impersonation) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of Indian Penal Code,” said inspector in charge of Puri Town police station Jadunath Jena.