Ahmedabad: Paldi police have registered an FIR in an alleged Rs 40 lakh cheating case in which a man posed as a Gujarat govt officer and allegedly collected money by promising govt jobs, contracts, housing benefits and other favours.The complaint was lodged by a 53-year-old tempo driver from Nikol, who told police that he met the accused at a temple in Dholka in Aug last year. The accused allegedly introduced himself as a secretariat officer, showed a govt identity card and claimed to have influence in govt recruitment and welfare schemes. He also allegedly said he had secured govt jobs for several candidates, helped people obtain houses under govt housing schemes and facilitated mining leases.Trusting these claims, the complainant and his family members allegedly paid money to the accused at several meetings near Ambedkar Bridge in Paldi and at his residence in the Kasinadra area.According to the complaint, Rs 13.5 lakh was paid in cash for arranging talati jobs for relatives of the complainant. The accused also allegedly collected Rs 5.5 lakh in cash after promising a job in the food and drugs department.The complainant further alleged that the accused sought Rs 10.3 lakh to arrange a canteen contract with a private company in Vadodara and secure a mining lease in Chhota Udepur. Of this amount, Rs 8.8 lakh was allegedly paid in cash, while Rs 1.5 lakh was transferred through Google Pay.The accused is also alleged to have collected money on the promise of providing a house and a shop under a govt housing scheme. The complainant claimed to have paid Rs 8.5 lakh in cash, besides making online transfers of Rs 50,000 and Rs 1.7 lakh.Despite paying a total of Rs 40 lakh, none of the promised jobs, contracts or other benefits materialised. Subsequent inquiries in Gandhinagar reportedly revealed that the accused was not employed with the Secretariat.The complaint further states that the accused later signed an agreement acknowledging receipt of the money but failed to return it.
