Odisha Police Bust ₹3.48-Crore Fake Government Jobs Scam

Bhubaneswar: What appeared for years to be a legitimate government recruitment drive has now been exposed as a large-scale interstate fraud that preyed on unemployment and siphoned off crores of rupees from jobseekers across India.

Odisha Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has uncovered a fake government jobs racket that operated across at least 10 states, collecting approximately ₹3.48 crore by promising public sector employment through advertisements that closely mimicked official notifications.

Fake Recruitment That Looked Official

Beginning around 2020, advertisements started appearing in regional newspapers announcing vacancies for posts such as district coordinators, block coordinators, computer operators and surveyors. The notices were crafted to resemble authentic government recruitment advertisements — using official-sounding language, structured eligibility criteria and realistic pay scales.

Applicants were asked to apply online through a website, grks.org, operated under the name Gramin Rojgar Kalyan Sansthan (GRKS). The entity was portrayed as a government-affiliated organisation involved in rural employment and skill development.

Application fees were deliberately kept low — ₹170 for SC/ST candidates and ₹320 for general category applicants - making the scheme appear routine and credible rather than suspicious.

Examinations were also conducted, reinforcing trust among applicants. However, despite thousands of candidates clearing these tests, no appointments were ever issued.

A Structured, Interstate Financial Fraud

Investigators say the operation was not an isolated scam but a carefully structured financial fraud designed to extract money at scale. GRKS, police allege, was a shell organisation created solely to lend institutional legitimacy to the racket.

The advertisements and online portals were rolled out in multiple states and languages to maximise reach. According to financial records examined by investigators, the cumulative application fees alone amounted to nearly ₹3.48 crore.

At the centre of the operation was Gautam Kumar (45), a resident of Khagaria district in Bihar, who was arrested this week from Delhi’s Rohini area after evading police for nearly two years.

Police allege Kumar projected himself as a “skill development professional” responsible for training selected candidates. Bank records show that around ₹69.2 lakh was routed directly to him through accounts of two companies and a trust linked to him.

Such layered fund movement patterns are typically identified through processes similar to auditing services in india, where transaction trails, beneficiary links and misrepresentation of purpose are examined in detail.

Arrests and Ongoing Probe

Kumar was facing a non-bailable warrant at the time of his arrest. Three of his alleged associates — Dharampal Singh, Amit Singh and Jairam Tiwari, all from Bihar — were arrested earlier in 2023.

The case was registered after fake recruitment advertisements appeared in Odisha newspapers, triggering complaints from jobseekers who never received appointment letters despite clearing exams.

Police officials believe the network may be larger, involving individuals responsible for publicity, digital infrastructure and financial routing. Further arrests are possible as investigators continue tracing fund flows and identifying additional victims.