Shimla — In a significant breakthrough, Shimla police have arrested a youth involved in a major job fraud scam, where he duped two brothers of Rs 8.63 lakhs under the pretense of securing them jobs in the Forest Department. The accused, Dilip Negi, 22, a resident of Nichar tehsil, Kinnaur, was arrested late at night and presented in court on Wednesday. Negi is currently on remand until May 20 as the investigation continues.
The fraudulent activities occurred between March 2024 and May 2024. The victims, Nishant and Hrithik, residents of Chirgaon, Rohru, were living in a rented room in New Shimla when they met Dilip Negi. Negi claimed to have influential connections in the Forest Department and promised to secure their positions as forest guards. To make his claims believable, he presented fake job appointment letters and counterfeit NCC cadet certificates.
Over the course of a month, the accused extorted Rs 8.63 lakhs from the brothers. Suspicion arose when the job appointment letters were discovered to be forgeries. Realizing they had been deceived, Nishant and Hrithik lodged a complaint at the New Shimla Police Station, triggering an investigation.
The police have since seized various incriminating documents, including fake certificates and appointment letters. Preliminary investigations revealed that Negi had been exploiting his false claims of connections with high-ranking officials to defraud job seekers.
The case gained further attention when Rachna and Uttam Chand, also from Chirgaon, wrote a letter to the Director General of Police, detailing similar fraudulent activities by Negi. This prompted the intelligence department of the Rohru unit to take action. Investigators discovered that Negi first contacted Nishant in March and began extorting money shortly thereafter.
Additional complaints suggest that Negi may have defrauded other youths in the Shiladesh village area, indicating a broader pattern of deceit. The police are examining Negi’s bank documents to trace the flow of money and identify other potential victims.
“We are committed to uncovering the full extent of this fraud and bringing all involved parties to justice,” stated a senior police officer involved in the case. “We urge anyone with information regarding similar scams to come forward.”
