Fake placement agency owner held

NEW DELHI : The Delhi Police on Friday arrested a 32-year-old man who allegedly operated fake online placement agencies and cheated people in the name of providing domestic helps.

The man, whom the police identified as Sanjay Sahani, was evading arrest in a cheating case registered at the Paschim Vihar police station three years ago. The case was later transferred to the crime branch on the National Human Rights Commission’s directions (NHRC), police said.

Sahani used to place online advertisements regarding domestic helps and demanded between ₹25,000 and ₹30,000 as commission.

“The help would flee from the employer’s home within a day or two. Sahani would then switch off his mobile number. Sahani used to bring women from remote areas from Jharkhand and Bihar to work as domestic helps,” said Rajiv Ranjan, additional commissioner of police (crime).

Additional CP Ranjan said Sahani was arrested following investigation into a cheating case filed by Vaibhav Seth, a resident of west Delhi’s Paschim Vihar. Seth told the police that in August 2016, he had contacted an online placement agency and hired a domestic help, Aarti, on a fixed salary.

“Seth had paid ₹25,000 as onetime commission to the agent. He said Aarti came to his house with Sahani, the placement agency owner, on August 19, 2016. The help disappeared the very next day. Seth tried to contact Sahani but his mobile phone was switched off. Seth then filed a cheating case,” Ranjan said.

When the police could not trace Aarti or Sahani, the case was transferred to the crime branch. Investigators found that the suspect was running several fake online placement agencies in Delhi-ncr.

The investigating team tracked down Sahani’s hideouts and raided them. He was caught from his office in Gautam Budh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, the police said.

“We recovered fake aadhar cards, voter IDS, driving licences, rent agreements and cheque books of various banks, and rubber stamps from Sahani,” Ranjan said.