A fraud case has come to light recently when about 3,236 aspirants were duped by a fake website of Ministry of rural development and Panchayat Raj.
How did it start?
A website with the name of Ministry of Rural development was set up by cyber frauds. It invited online applications for 1,108 vacant posts for multitasking staff, billing clerks, computer technical data entry operators, and other designations. The post regarding that was shared on WhatsApp groups and Facebook pages.
Thousands of people applied for the posts in a dream to secure a government job. The website which had all the details of the ministry also charged Rs. 3000 per head for the interview.
Fraud Revealed!
The case came to light when the politicians started calling top officials to influence their candidates for the post. Sources said officials were surprised when politicians in states started calling up Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Narendra Singh Tomar, requesting him to “take care” of their candidates.
A lid was finally blown off the racket when one of the job aspirant, Sudesh Kumar from Banka in Bihar, wrote a mail to Tomar and his personal secretary Navneet Mohan Kothari, inquiring whether the ministry was charging money for the interviews.
He wrote,
“Sir, I have applied for a post under the National Department of Land Reform in India (NDLRI). They are asking for money for an interview. We are confused whether this is a fake site.”
and attached his admit card.
Surprised Minister and his personal secretary enquired the ministry officials and found out that there were no such vacancies in the department. Further enquiry revealed that the fake website was operating in the name of Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj.
CBI Files Case
Joint secretary Alka Upadhyay wrote a letter to CBI director Alok Verma requesting him to carry out the investigation in this regard. In the letter, Upadhyay said:
“There are no sanctioned posts in their department. Prime facie, this case appears to be criminal culpability. The Hon’ble Minister for Rural Development has desired that the matter to be investigated by the CBI.”
Beware!
Job aspirants are advised to cross check before applying for the job online. The government websites end with “gov.in” or “nic.in” domain name. And no government jobs ask money from the aspirants for the interview. And also, do not share unverified job offers on WhatsApp and Facebook.
