New Delhi, May 19 (IANS) A software coding expert and his aide were arrested for duping job aspirants of lakhs of rupees by launching a fake website of the Ministry of Rural Development, said a Delhi Police official on Monday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Devesh Mahla identified the two accused as coding expert Rashi Choudhary and Ikbal Hussain.

“Rashid is originally from Telangana and Ikbal is from Assam,” he said, adding that they were arrested from a rented flat in Shakarpur, Laxmi Nagar, in East Delhi.

He said the job scam was unearthed following a complaint given by the Ministry of Rural Development, which was getting queries from job aspirants duped by the culprits.

“At least 21 cheque books, 11 phones, 15 SIM cards and 15 debit cards have been recovered from the culprits, and a hunt is on for their other gang members,” said DCP Mahla.

The DCP said that going by the scale of recoveries made so far suggests that the gang would have duped lakhs of job aspirants from whom they collected registration fees of Rs 299 or Rs 399 on their website, used to run a scheme named National Rural Development and Recreation Mission (NRDRM).

“They were operating two websites and cheating job seekers by illegally using photos of an MP and official logo,” he said.

The DCP said the accused were identified with the efforts of cyber cell policemen who used electronic tools to narrow down on them.

He said the racket was unearthed following a complaint dated March 22, from the Ministry of Rural Development, which reported the circulation of fraudulent recruitment advertisements on fake websites www.nrdrm.com and www.nrdrmvacany.com carrying images of Ministers and senior government officials to lure job seekers.

During the investigation, a QR code was found linked to fake websites. This code was used to receive registration fees from job seekers and money credited into a Central Bank of India account of Assam, he said.

The money was further siphoned off to multiple accounts and subsequently withdrawn through ATMs, he said.

–IANS

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