Title - Kingpin in railway recruitment scam nabbed

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday night arrested Navin Kumar (26), suspected kingpin in the multicrore railway recruitment scam, and his associate Mishra alias Chotu (29) of Bihar, sources in the agency said.A special team picked up the two when they were proceeding to an undisclosed destination from the airport. Kumar is alleged to be the brain behind the fraud, while Ram Singh, arrested on Friday, played a key role in designing the fake railway recruitment website and created false interview, medical and employment orders, the sources said. Kumar, an MBA degree holder, was operating from New Delhi and Kolkata and was aspiring to become an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer.“He was preparing for the civil services examination with the sole objective of becoming a police officer. Kumar has extensive contacts with railway and police officials. We have seized his mobile phone and laptop for investigation,” a CBI official told The Hindu on Sunday.After having cheated thousands of unemployed youths across the country and swindled crores of rupees, Kumar and Singh launched a film production company in Mumbai. “They launched the M.P Film productions in the Bollywood and were making a movie. Besides fake call letters and appointment orders, searches on the premises of the suspects revealed documents pertaining to investments in stock market and real estate,” he said.

Explaining why investigators strongly suspected the role of railway and police officials, he said the accused persons operated a fake railway training centre close to the Eastern Railway headquarters in Kolkata. Medical check for the ‘selected’ candidates was organised in railway hospitals. The Howrah railway station was used for practical training. Though the candidates who realised the fraud lodged complaints, no action was taken. “Kumar organised police vehicles to pick up the candidates from railway station to the training centre. He also travelled in police or railway vehicles to make it appear as if the recruitment was genuine…they collected a huge sum of money and left the aspiring candidates in dire straits.

Even as CBI teams were searching for Kumar and Mishra, the two conducted another fake recruitment drive in a star hotel in Chennai recently. “Navin told his agents in Tamil Nadu, some of whom were arrested, that the police action would soon be neutralised and that their modus operandi would continue without any hindrance,” he said.

The accused persons were produced in a city court and lodged in the Puzhal central prison. CBI plans to take them into custody for further interrogation on the role of Government officials in the scam, agency sources added.