Thiruvananthapuram: Police have taken one of the main accused PSC job fraud case into custody.
Sources said Rasmi of Amballoor in Thrissur surrendered before the police. The search is on for the prime accused, R Rajalakshmi of Adoor.
They swindled the money collected from gullible job aspirants by giving them forged appointment letters on fake Public Service Commission (PSC) letterhead and promising employment in Vigilance, Income Tax and GST departments.
The police had issued a lookout notice for Rajalakshmi and Rasmi ever since the fraud came to light.
The investigating team under City Police Commissioner C Nagaraju found that the duo swindled Rs 2 lakh to Rs 4.5 lakh from candidates by promising jobs that did not even exist in the Vigilance, Income Tax, and GST departments. The accused, who won the confidence of the job aspirants through interactions via WhatsApp group, received the money through online transactions.
The WhatsApp group the gang created had 84 members, police said. Of these, only 15 persons have complained to the police about having lost money.
Investigating officers say many of the job fraud victims were unwilling to admit that they had lost money, fearing ignominy. As soon as they learned about the fraud, they left the WhatsApp group, an officer said.
