The Solan police have arrested a habitual fraudster, identified as Nikhil Thakur (26), who is a resident of Ganhol village in Kasauli, for duping a Solan resident of Rs 1.72 lakh on the promise of arranging two jobs for his childrenin in the Military Engineering Services (MES), Chandimandir.
He was arrested from Nalagarh last evening where he is facing a similar case of cheating gullible people. He was produced before a local court by the police today for securing his remand, said Gaurav Singh, SP, Solan.
Despite being jobless himself, the manner in which he managed to convince people of arranging government jobs for them, has left the police surprised and baffled. His arrest has also exposed how people yearn to secure a government job by hook or crook even if it meant adopting unauthorised channels.
In a complaint with the police five months ago, Devendra Thakur, a resident of Damkadi village in Solan, stated that his sister-in-law’s husband Manohar Lal told him that a person from his village, Nikhil Thakur, was deputed as Superintendent in MES, Chandimandir.
He said some vacancies were notified in the MES in which those having an ITI diploma were to be recruited. Manohar told Devendra that Thakur could help him in securing jobs for his children.
Devendra told Manohar Lal that his son had done an ITI diploma. After a few days, he got a call, wherein the caller identified himself as Nikhil Thakur and asked him to send his son’s ITI diploma certificate, Aadhaar Card and other documents on WhatsApp number. Devendra sent documents of his son and daughter to Nikhil Thakur. The next day, the same person called and told Devendra that papers of his children had been verified by Colonel Sahib at MES, Chandimandir. The complainant said Nikhil Thakur told him to pay Rs 50,000 for completing papers and other formalities. After this Devendra transferred Rs 50,000 to bank account number given by Nikhil Thakur.
Nikhil Thakur, however, sought more money from Devendra the next day. Acceding to his request, Devendra transferred Rs 1.22 lakh to Nikhil Thakur’s account through Google Pay on different dates.
In January, Nikhil Thakur sent an appointment letter of Devendra’s son Tapan on WhatsApp number. Tapan was ordered to report at Chandimandir between February 3 and February 13. Thereafter, Nikhil Thakur stopped responding to Devendra’s calls. Besides, Manohar Lal also gave money to Nikhil Thakur.
On inquiring, it was found that no person identified as Nikhil Thakur was deputed at the MES, Chandimandir. The said person Nikhil had cheated the complainant by promising them a job for his children following which a case was registered at the Solan Sadar police station on February 27.
While two cases were registered against Nikhil Thakur at Solan and Nalagarh, several others were looking for him to recover their hard earned money. As per the Solan police, Nikhil was a habitual offender who had duped people of at least Rs 13 lakh in six different cases.
Earlier, Nikhil was arrested by the Dhabota police in Nalagarh on February 27. According to complainant Sunil Kumar, a resident of Sarela village, Nikhil had cheated him and his niece on the pretext of arranging jobs of clerk and driver in the MES for his children and extracted Rs 2.15 lakh from him.
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