Ghaziabad: Like hundreds of others in the country, eight youths from a village in Sahibabad dreamt of working for the govt. But now their hopes have been dashed — a man, his “IPS officer” wife, their daughter and a close associate have been identified for cheating the youths’ families of more than Rs 1 crore on the pretext of getting them govt jobs.The police have filed an FIR against all four accused under several charges including sections 318(4) (cheating), 336(3) (forgery for purpose of cheating). Teams have been formed to trace the absconding persons, an officer said.The fraud came to the fore after Rishiraj Kumar, a resident of Sahibabad’s Sector 5, filed a complaint in the matter. He said the fraud was committed between 2022 and 2024 by one Rajesh Khanna, his wife Jaya Khanna, their daughter Kanishka and the family’s associate Thomas P Joseph.The complainant, a peon in a govt school in Delhi, first met Joseph in 2022, who subsequently introduced him to the Khanna family. According to the FIR, Jaya showed Kumar her govt employee card during a meeting and said she had connections in several departments where she could get him jobs.“I introduced many children from my village who wanted govt jobs to Jaya and Rajesh. She quoted a fee of Rs 20-25 lakh per person, in cash, for getting them jobs. I gave the documents and the cash of the youths to Kanishka and Rajesh after Jaya told me they handle the paperwork. A few days later, all four accused called me to Delhi Western Court, showed me some paperwork and asked for Rs 70 lakh more. Subsequently, Jaya met two of the youths at Lodhi Estate Sai Mandir and gave appointment letters of the Food Corporation of India to them. She also assured the others with future dates,” Kumar said.The complainant said after paying Rs 70 lakh, the accused gave three other youths appointment letters for posts at Indian Railway through speed post. After a subsequent payment of Rs 15 lakh, two others were given Food Corporation of India appointment letters. One other youth was called to the Food Corporation of India office in Barakhamba, made to sign papers while standing outside the office and given a joining letter.“When the children went to the departments with their appointment letters, they found out all documents handed to them by the Khanna family were fake. To those who had received letters from Indian Railways, Jaya said they would have to work under a contractor for “some time” before their posts would be made permanent,” the FIR read.However, when the promises turned out to be false, the complainant went to the family’s house and threatened to file a complaint. He asked the accused to return the money following which Kanishka allegedly said she would “tear her clothes and accuse me of attempted rape”.
