PANAJI
More instances of people, including a police staffer, exploiting the desperation of youth to land a government job to extort money by acting as 'fake' agents have come to light even as police booked more cases and made two more arrests on Sunday.
In one case, Ponda police arrested Sagar Naik, a staffer in the Police department, for allegedly extorting Rs 15 lakh from a woman on the promise of landing her a teaching job in a government school in Marcel.
The husband of the woman cheated by Naik had lodged the complaint about a fortnight ago alleging that he had been taking money from them since October 2022.
In the second case, the Ponda police booked one Prakash Rane of Curti-Ponda for defrauding several victims of Rs 40 lakh again on the pretext of ensuring government jobs for them. Rane, who was arrested on Sunday morning, is a practicing veterinarian by profession and has been handed over to the Panaji police for jurisdictional reasons.
Ponda police sources said the investigations into both the cases have revealed the possibility of the accused having cheated more people.
In the case of the Police staffer Naik, the investigations revealed that he convinced his victim Trupti Prabhu from Usgao that he would ensure she gets the teacher's job in the Marcel school. From October 2022 till date, Prabhu parted with up to Rs 15 lakh in her quest to land the teacher's job.
However, with no signs of landing a teaching position in the school, she and her husband filed a formal complaint with the Ponda police about a fortnight ago.
