Bangalore,Nov 22, 2013, DHNS: A woman who allegedly duped several youths of their money, promising jobs in the Army, has been arrested by police in a joint operation with the officials of the Directorate of Military Intelligence.
Sujatha alias Sofia, 38 of Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) allegedly introduced herself as a civil recruitment officer with the Indian Army. She used fabricated documents to substantiate her claim.
Dr P S Harsha, DCP (East) said that the woman has cheated close to 100 men across Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. A senior officer from Military Intelligence who led the probe, told Deccan Herald that the crime came to light a month ago, when some youths, cheated by the woman, approached authorities at the ASC Centre, Ulsoor. He said that a special team was formed to investigate. With the help of the victims, the team tracked Sujatha to KGF, her native place, and collected more evidence.
On a tip-off that Sujatha was at a house in Neelasandra in the City, the officials laid a trap. A sub-inspector with City police approached her as a job aspirant and helped officials nab the woman red-handed a couple of days ago.
A formal complaint was lodged by Sateesh, 23, a resident of KGF who had given her Rs 20,000 on the promise that she would get him a job in the Army. Balakrishna, 30, also from KGF told Deccan Herald that he worked on a contract basis with the Excise department and had lost Rs three lakh to the woman.
He said Sujatha had collected money from him on and off from the past one year. “She took me to Banglaore, Mumbai and Mangalore on the pretext of getting me a job. Each trip cost me thousands of rupees. At no time she take me into any campus. Either she would avoid taking me into the campuses or she would speak to some officials there, asking me to stay outside,” Balakrishna said, adding that Sujatha had cheated at least 50 men in KGF alone.
The senior official from the Military Intelligence said they had seized a fake ID card that showed her designation as a recruiting officer, India, and fake records in the name of ‘The Madras Regimental Centre and Records’ under which she gave appointment orders to the victims. She had taken their signatures as acknowledgement.
The official said some military officials were also involved in the scandal. The woman has revealed a few names during interrogation. He refused to disclose the names at the current time.
