Pune: Several youngsters were allegedly duped of Rs 45 lakh in a fake recruitment scam in which the suspects promised permanent jobs with Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to the youths over the last four years.Shalaka Vinayak Dhone (47), an officer with PMC, lodged a complaint regarding the issue with the Shivajinagar police. Dhone stated in his complaint that the fraud took place between March 2022 and July 2026 at corporation offices in Shivajinagar and several other locations. One of the suspects is a trustee of a prominent temple in the Pune district.Senior inspector Girish Dighavkar of the Shivajinagar police station said, “We have arrested Shivanand Balasaheb Patil, a peon at a PMC-run school, from Kothrud in the case.”Dighavkar said, “The suspects collected large sums of money from unemployed youths by assuring them of permanent jobs in PMC. They allegedly prepared forged PMC letterheads, fake seals, fabricated signatures of senior civic officials, and counterfeit appointment letters to make the documents appear genuine.”The complainant stated that the accused accepted payments in cash as well as through cheques. Several candidates were assured that their appointments had been finalised, thereby gaining their confidence, the complainant said, adding that it was later discovered that no appointments had actually been made, exposing the fraud.The police have charged the suspects with forging and using fake govt documents, besides cheating candidates of Rs 45 lakh.Dighavkar said, “We suspect the involvement of more people in the racket. We are examining financial transactions, documents, bank records, and other evidence.”“There is another similar complaint registered with the Swargate police station. We will verify whether our case is linked to that one,” he said.
