Job racket: Trio from Kerala held

Ranjith Kumar alias Deepesh (36) of Poonamallee, Praveen Chand (38) and Anup Nair (28) of Nesapakkam, all from Kerala, had collected Rs 20,000 from Emil (32) of Kottayam district in Kerala to get him a job in Singapore. Though the duo failed to arrange the job, they refused to return the money.

Emil approached the Protector of Emigrants in Kerala and the petition was forwarded to Chennai police.

A fresh petition was received from him and a case was registered by the CCB, which led to the arrest of the trio in Poonamallee.

During investigation, police came to know that they have cheated about 100 youngsters, most of them Keralaites, in the same manner. The trio alleged that they gave the money to an agent to arrange jobs, but he cheated them.

However, as they failed to back up the claim with proof, the three were arrested.

Ranjith, who had come to Chennai four years ago, was into real estate business before getting into the job market business. Praveen Chand is his relative and all the transactions were done through his bank account. Anup Nayar joined Ranjith only last year, said police.

Inspector Pushparaj, the investigation officer, told DT Next that youth should verify the authenticity of such offers either online or through agents before proceeding to pay the huge sums of money that the agents demand.