Jobs in UK : LSE graduate arrested for UK job racket

LSE graduate arrested for UK job racket
Express News Service

New Delhi, January 14: A post-graduate from the London School of Economics conned several youths into paying more than Rs 2 lakh for plum jobs in the UK — computer professionals for the British Railways.

Maharukh Javat, who holds an LSE degree in computer science, has been arrested by the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police. A case of cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy was registered a few days back on the complaint of several persons, who alleged that they were cheated by a Mumbai company, Mazda Information & Systems Technologies, which also had a branch in Civil Lines, Delhi.

The complaint said the company had placed an advertisement in newspapers in November 2003, calling for 40-45 computer professionals in British Railways. The firm, run by Javat with Rakesh Grover, claimed to have a contract with British Railways to hire computer professionals at a monthly salary of £3000 (approximately Rs 2.4 lakh) with free boarding and lodging facilities.

The selected candidates were then trained in computer operations for about four months at Delhi. During the ‘‘training’’, they were made to fill in various forms. Each candidate was asked to pay Rs 2 lakh for the training, tickets to UK, visa and for the placement.

They were later told specialised training would be given by British Railway staffers. Once training was over, they were told to wait for their employment letters which the company would mail home. Many of the candidates had even resigned from jobs in call centres and marketing organisations so they could work in the UK. Most of them were from Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida.

After a few months, when the letter was still nowhere in sight, the candidates began pressuring the company officials who said their joining dates had only been postponed. In April 2004, the company shut down its Civil Lines office. Inquiries revealed Brit Rail was a subsidiary of ACP Marketing Ltd, a Canada-based rail marketing firm, which had nothing to do with Javat’s firm. When the candidates brought this up, some were given cheques which bounced.

Javat, a resident of Mumbai, landed in police net when she came to Delhi on a business venture. A student of Sophia College, she also had a Masters in management from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Sciences.