Woman held for job scam did similar fraud in Noida: Police

THE INVOLVEMENT OF INSIDERS WAS SUSPECTED AS THE WOMAN, PRIYANKA MISHRA, NEVER HAD ANY TROUBLE IN GAINING ENTRY TO THE OFFICE BUILDING...SHE HAD WORKED IN THE I-T DEPARTMENT AS A DATA OPERATOR

Investigation into the fake job interviews conducted by a woman at the income tax (I-T ) building in Lucknow has brought some employees of the department posted in Lucknow, Bareilly and Gautam Budh Nagar under the scanner of the police, said officials.

The involvement of insiders was suspected as the woman held for running the job scam had committed similar frauds in Gautam Buddh Nagar and never had any trouble in gaining entry to the office building.

The police said it is next to impossible to carry out interviews for around two weeks inside the office building without anybody there getting to know of it. “We will write to I-T officials concerned to conduct an internal inquiry to identify insiders involved in the entire episode,” said a police officer, asking not to be named.

The investigation revealed that the suspect, Priyanka Mishra, had worked in the I-T department as an outsourced employee (data operator) in Gautam Budh Nagar in 2016-17. The woman had distributed sweets there saying she had cleared the civil services examinations in 2017 and was later removed from the job over some anomalies, said the officer.

He said the woman shifted her base from Gautam Budh

Nagar to Lucknow after her alleged fraudulent activities began to surface. She started living in Lucknow in a rented accommodation in Triveni Nagar locality. The police are also searching for two other women, who were associated with Mishra during her time in Lucknow.

The police were also scanning bank account details of the suspect to ascertain how much money she had received in the past few months. The probe revealed that Mishra was an engineering graduate and is now pursuing law from a private college of Hardoi, said Aparna Rajat Kaushik, deputy commissioner of police, Lucknow (central zone). Mishra is married and has a four-year-old daughter. The police are ascertaining whether her husband was also involved in her fraudulent activities, added the officer.

Mishra was caught conducting job interviews while sitting in the staff cafeteria of the income tax department building (Pratyaksh Bhawan) in Lucknow on Tuesday.

So far, investigation has revealed that she had given fake appointment letters to at least nine people, after taking money from them. Police said Mishra took ₹2-3 lakh from each job aspirant after assuring them jobs.

She was booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 420 (cheating), 467 and 468 (forgery) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document).