Man arrested for duping job aspirant of Rs 7 lakh

According to police, the accused Manish Srivastav, a resident of Titwala in Thane district, was nailed yesterday after his role surfaced in the cheating case.

Srivastav cheated the victim with help of his aides, believed to be foreigners. The accused was remanded in police custody till November 16 and search for his aides was on.

The victim, whose name was not disclosed, had come to Mumbai from Bangalore in January 2008 and was working in a private firm here, police said.

"The victim was looking for a good job and while surfing, he came across a UK-based website where he uploaded his resume in September last year. He received a reply on October 6 stating he was offered a restaurant desk job in London's Queen hotel," a police officer told PTI, requesting anonymity.

The victim was given another website through which he was asked to contact Steve Oven, who claimed to be the recruitment manager, the officer said, adding Oven in e-mails to the victim asked him to contact Tony Mure and Jonh Cleark.

The victim, was then in touch with Mure and Cleark through e-mails. Cleark asked the victim to deposit Rs 20,900 in their ICICI bank account as they could get him visa and work permit, the officer said.

Believing them, the complainant deposited the money in an ICICI account on November 12. However, this did not stop here.

Cleak made him to deposit cash on several occasions and recently and the victim had deposited over Rs 7.34 lakh in 23 different account numbers provided by Cleark, police said.

However, when there was no reply from Cleark despite cash deposits and personal details provided by him, the victim realised he was cheated and lodged a complaint with BKC Cyber Police station, police added.

As police scrutinised all the 23 different bank accounts, they came across Srivastav, who was subsequently held.

"Srivastav is the part of the racket that cheated the victim promising him a job. We are trying to know his complete modus operandi," the officer said.

Srivastav was being questioned so as information could be obtained about his associates, who introduced themselves as Oven, Cleark, Mure, who are believed to be foreigners and still absconding in the case, police said.

"Investigations are on to find out if the three are in India or abroad," the officer said.