Bengaluru duo held for posing as RAW officers in job scam

Bengaluru: The city police have arrested two men who allegedly posed as Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officers and defrauded at least 30 people by promising them jobs as Intelligence Special Officers.

Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda announced the arrests by the Central Crime Branch’s Special Inquiry Wing on Tuesday.

The arrested people are Venugopal K, 38, from Bidar, and Arvind Naidu of Hyderabad. Naidu, unemployed, is accused of masterminding the scam, while Venugopal ran a DTP shop in Jayanagar 9th Block.

Police investigations revealed that Naidu, posing as a RAW officer, recruited Venugopal a year ago, promising job vacancies.

"Naidu met Venugopal in a tea shop a year ago and introduced himself as a RAW officer. He asked Venugopal if he knew people who wanted to join RAW as Intelligence Special Officers because he had a few vacancies to fill up,” an investigator said.

Venugopal introduced two job seekers, each paying Naidu Rs 5 lakh for the joining letters. Upon discovering Naidu's deception, Venugopal joined the scheme.

The duo allegedly approached victims, posing as RAW officials, and demanded payments for job placements.

“On collecting the money, the suspects printed joining letters with the RAW letterhead. They also printed identification cards and sent them to their victims,” the investigator said. To maintain the illusion, they even paid two months’ salary to some victims.

Scam exposed 

The scam was exposed when a victim from Yelachenahalli, near JP Nagar, filed a police complaint. CCB officers arrested Naidu in Kompally, Hyderabad, and subsequently apprehended Venugopal.

The police seized 86 RAW letterheads, a fake RAW ID, nine RAW seals, and fake offer letters. The suspects also printed fake RAW ID cards.

CCB officers have summoned the victims to determine the total amount the suspects had taken from them.