Accomplice absconding, police on manhunt
PANAJI
The Crime Branch on Friday arrested a skin specialist Dr Meena Pooja Gop, for allegedly cheating around 13 job seekers on the pretext of providing well-paid jobs in New Zealand. Her accomplice Arvind Gop has been on the run with the sleuths on a manhunt to trace his whereabouts and arrest him.
Superintendent of Police (Crime Branch) Rahul Gupta informed the media that the arrest followed a complaint by Sanjana Bhicholkar, a resident of Guirim, who alleged that both the accused pretended to be recruitment agents and promised her a job in New Zealand’s sales department.
In the offence that began in September 2020, the accused allegedly induced the complainant to transfer a total of Rs 8.50 lakh through GPay and cash transactions as a “processing fee.”
However, no job materialised, and it was later revealed that Meena had also forged a visa document.
Gupta said that further investigation found that the accused duo – residents of Mapusa – cheated at least 12 other victims in a similar manner of Rs 27,73,540 under the pretext of facilitating overseas employment.
A case under sections 318 (cheating), 336 (forgery) read with 3(5) (common intention) of the BNS Act, 2023, and Section 10 of the Emigration Act, 1983 (operating as recruiting agency without valid certificate) has been registered against the accused persons. “The first accused, Meena, has been arrested and the probe is underway to find the second accused,” the SP said.
