A man has been arrested at Amar Colony in south-east Delhi for allegedly cheating an unemployed youth on the pretext of providing a job in the merchant navy.
Avish Rajput, who runs Sea Dream Academy in Lajpat Nagar, was held after a probe into a complaint lodged by Surender Kumar, who hails from Rajasthan’s Sikar district, on August 12. Surender told police that he came to the Capital in June 2011 after seeing an advertisement from the academy.
“Surender was fed up of being unemployed and claimed to have paid Rs 1.10 lakh to Avish and Baljeet Kaur after they promised that he would be provided a job in the merchant navy by December, 2011. He was assured that he would also be provided continuous discharge certificate (CDC)-cum-seafarer’s identity document,” a senior police official said.
In January, Surender was told that it would take more time to process his application and the CDC would be sent to his permanent address in Rajasthan. Therefore, Surender went back to Rajasthan and continued to be in touch over the phone with both Avish and Baljeet.
But in July, he decided to visit the Lajpat Nagar office personally.
“When Surender came back to Delhi and confronted Avish and Baljeet, they allegedly failed to give him a proper reply,” the official added.
Surender also alleged that instead of the CDC, he was forced to accept a STCW (standards of training, certification and watchkeeping) certificate. He further claimed that 54 other unemployed youths are presently being cheated.
He has documents to prove that he paid Rs 1.10 lakh to Avish and Baljeet in three installments – Rs 50,000 in July, Rs 20,000 in September, Rs 40,000 in January 2012.
Avish has been charged under section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.
“Efforts are being made to apprehend Baljeet and unearth more cases,” the official added.