One held for duping 71 BTech graduates in employment racket

Visakhapatnam, The police cyber-crime investigation cell (CCIC) arrested a 31-year-old BA graduate here today, for allegedly duping 71 B Tech graduates from various parts in Andhra Pradesh over the internet, under the pretext of offering jobs in various companies.

The accused Kakarla Sathish Kumar, allegedly took Rs 10.8 lakh from 71 gullible unemployed BTech graduates since 2011 and the police could recover only Rs 20,000. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) P Viswa Prasad said how MDVP Jagannadh and K Uppendra, who are both from the city fell victims to the online fraud. They realised that they were cheated by Sathish Kumar and lodged a police complaint at a local police station on July 12, 2013, after which the case transferred to the CCIC. The CCIC team nabbed the Sathish Kumar based on the accused's bank account details and ATM card number, while he withdrew money from an ATM near Suryabagh area here today. Sathish Kumar, native of Yelamanchili town in the district completed his BA in 2004 and went to Hyderabad in search of employment. However, he was cheated by one person in Hyderabad under the pretext of an employment opportunity. The distressed Sathish Kumar decided to earn easy money by cheating others and posted an advertisement which said Wanted BTech freshers on a website, mentioning a mobile phone number. Around 200 BTech graduates contacted Sathish Kumar, while he posed himself as 'Divakar Reddy', 'K V Narayana' and 'HR Manager of Visa Energy Ltd', 'Starlight Energy India Ltd and 'Nagarjuna Power Ltd'. The accused also created fake e-mails IDs of such companies and asked BTech graduates to send their resumes for employment. He also made fake job appointment letters by visiting some company websites and asked the 71 gullible youth to deposit Rs 15,000 each in his bank account. After receiving the amount in his account, Sathish used to switch off his mobile phone. He was arrested by the Hyderabad police in 2011 for duping youth over the Internet under the pretext of employment opportunities, but was released from prison and went back to his old ways, only to get re-arrested again, the police said.