A man accused of targeting vulnerable people seeking employment was arrested by East Garo Hills police on suspicion of defrauding over 300 of them to the tune of more than Rs 37 lakh.
Police from the district had travelled to New Delhi to arrest one Hemant Kumar Pradhan, who was carted back to Meghalaya today.
Pradhan is accused of masterminding an elaborate con that even received backing (in good faith) from cabinet ministers Marcuise Marak and Rakkam Sangma.
According to the complainants, Pradhan had approached an NGO consisting of Church members and activists for the ostensible implementation of an education programme in Garo Hills under the umbrella of an organisation called Shikshya Barta New Delhi, which would run for 15 years.
Through this education-media company, Pradhan spoke of providing jobs to more than 300 people from across Garo Hills who would run the programme in the area.
“As residents of Garo Hills, we were excited at the opportunity as it would have helped bridge the education gap and also provided employment to so many people across Garo Hills,” the secretary of the NGO, James Thuimai, said. “Through our NGO, the District Socio Economic Development Organisation (DSEDO), we have been making such contributions to our society and did not want to pass up such an opportunity.”
Little did the NGO know but they were about to be taken for a complete ride.
Pradhan asked it to gather the people and resources that would be required to revolutionise education in the region. DSEDO was sent details of 275 field workers and 28 administrative posts, the appointees of which would receive up to Rs 13,000 per month in salary, a yearly bonus and Rs 2 lakh insurance.
If that sounds too good to be true, it was – applicants were expected to pay Rs 15,540 each in a supposed training/security charge. What was even better was that Pradhan asked all those employed to deposit another Rs 1,000 each to link their accounts in New Delhi to pay salaries.
Accordingly, DSEDO rolled out advertisements seeking people interested in these jobs and a huge number of applications with the fee were very quickly received. A franchise fee of Rs 90,000 for a programme called ‘My Home, My School’ was also paid into the bank account of a company controlled by Pradhan.
In order to gain the people’s and the NGO’s trust, the accused paid an in-person visit to Williamnagar and promised that the fee for 50 job applicants from BPL families would be waived.
The entire recruitment process took around six months and the DSEDO invited Pradhan back to Williamnagar for the inauguration of the office of the programme, which was dubbed the Zonal Education Media Office (ZEMO), on March 30 this year where the two cabinet ministers were present.
Not knowing about the scam, they praised the initiative, stating that, if implemented properly, it could change the face of education in the entire Garo Hills region. However, Pradhan declined to attend, citing prior commitments.
Despite ultimately being a fraudulent enterprise, the 275 field workers who were taken on did their work diligently and signed up more than 2,000 children for the educational programme. Some of these children had no prior access to schooling or their parents could not afford to send them to school.
“The concept that was provided was extremely good and we felt this could be a game changer not only in terms of employment but also in revolutionising education,” Thuimai said. “Our [ZEMO] office began functioning after the inauguration with all those employed by us going about their respective jobs.”
A legal agreement between DSEDO and Shikshya Barta was duly signed prior to ZEMO launching a full-fledged recruitment drive. Only after two months of work by ZEMO did the scam unravel as no salaries for the staff were forthcoming. Pradhan then began to ignore phone calls.
Two months then became four and still no salaries had been paid. It was then that the FIR was filed with police on July 7.
Pradhan was on the run for the past two months and it was only through the concerted efforts of the police that he was finally arrested.
“The accused person has been apprehended from the jurisdiction of Amor Colony police station, New Delhi, on September 8 and brought back to Williamnagar after his arrest. The matter is currently under investigation,” informed East Garo Hills Superintendent of Police Shailendra Bamaniya.
