With the arrest of three persons, the police on Sunday claimed to have busted a racket in Ganjam district which duped unemployed youths of over Rs 20 lakh by promising them jobs.
A special police squad arrested the three members of a well-organised racket from a private lodge at Dhenkanal.
The three were identified as Prabhakar Paltasingh alias Amit of Aska, Sagara Mishra of Muzaffarpur, Bihar and Ajit Kuamr Rana of Mantridi in Ganjam, Aska Sub-Divisional Police Officer Sarah Sharma said.
Eight mobile phones, passbooks and ATM cards of different banks, several documents including some fake call letters and certificates were seized from them, she said.
The racket allegedly collected an amount ranging from Rs 40,000 to Rs 1 lakh from every applicant by promising to provide them jobs in different private banks and mobile phone companies. Money was collected from them across the State including places like Aska, Bhanjanagar, Buguda, Sorada in Ganjam district, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Jharsuguda and Nabarangapur, Sharma said.
The modus-operandi of the racket was also unique. While Mishra used to conduct the interview for the applicants, Palatasingh, stated as the prime accused, would negotiate with them and bargain the amount. Rana usually lured the unemployed youths.