MUMBAI: A Latur-based farmer allegedly lost ₹12 lakh to two touts who claimed that they could get the former’s sons jobs in the Indian Railways.
According to the police, not only did the accused couple, identified as Santosh and Ritika Chopade, Nashik residents, call one of the two candidates for a fake interview, they also gave another a forged appointment letter.
The complainant, Raja Gutte, is a resident of Andhori village in Latur district.
A police official said, “Gutte had got to know from a relative that the accused had helped some other people get a job in the railways. The farmer and his son met the couple at a hotel in Vakola in May 2022 and asked them to get his sons jobs.”
When Gutte told them about his inability to pay the amount quoted by the couple, they said that the farmer could pay the amount in instalments, of which the first was transferred soon after the meeting.
A couple of months later, the couple said they had an appointment letter for the elder son of the complainant. However, Gutte was told to pay ₹6 lakh to get the letter, the police said.
“When the second instalment was exchanged in person, the accused had shown the complainant a copy of the appointment letter, the original of which they said would soon be dispatched to his address,” the officer added.
The family, however, never received the appointment letter and the two accused became unreachable.
The Vakola police have booked the accused couple for cheating and forgery.