Pune: The Baramati taluka police have registered a case against two men for allegedly duping at least 117 candidates of Rs 3.7 crore by promising them jobs in various state govt departments and the Indian Railways.According to the police, the duo, through a labour contractor from Baramati, approached the candidates and collected money from them between 2023 and 2025 before allegedly cheating them.Despite repeated follow-ups, the candidates neither secured the promised jobs nor received their money back. The labour contractor approached the Baramati taluka police on Friday and lodged a complaint.The accused have been booked under sections 316 (criminal breach of trust), 318 (cheating), 336 (forgery), 337 (forgery of court or public records), 338 (forgery of valuable security), and 340 (using a forged document or electronic record as genuine) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).A Pune Rural police officer said one of the accused was an acquaintance of the complainant. He introduced the complainant to the other accused, claiming that the latter had strong contacts in the state govt and the Indian Railways and had helped more than 400 candidates secure govt jobs.“The duo asked the complainant to identify candidates seeking jobs in the state govt’s social welfare, forest and irrigation departments, as well as in the Indian Railways in Kolkata, West Bengal,” the officer said.The accused demanded Rs 5 lakh for a state govt job and Rs 6 lakh for a job in the Railways.“They also instructed the complainant to collect an advance of Rs 3 lakh, along with the application form from candidates seeking state govt jobs and Rs 4 lakh from those applying for railway jobs,” the officer said.The complainant informed his friends and contacts, following which 117 candidates from Baramati, Indapur, and the districts of Ahilyanagar and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar paid a total of Rs 3.70 crore.“He handed over Rs 2 crore in cash and transferred the remaining amount online to the accused,” the officer said.He said the accused later shared fake selection lists and forged appointment letters with the candidates. They even sent some candidates for training in certain departments. It was during the training that the candidates realised they had been duped.“The candidates then began demanding their money back from the complainant. When the accused failed to return the money, the complainant approached the police,” the officer said.
