A 40-year-old man has been booked for allegedly duping 12 people of Rs 23.7 lakh on the pretext of providing them jobs in Maharashtra, police said on Thursday.
The accused, identified as Naresh alias Bandya Surve, told a woman job aspirant residing in his neighbourhood in the Wagle Estate area that he was working in the state secretariat and promised that he could arrange a job for her, Thane police spokesperson Sukhada Narkar said.
For this, he demanded Rs 2.1 lakh from the woman, who claimed to have paid it in installments, she said.
The woman later informed about the employment prospects to some other job aspirants, who also approached the accused and paid him money, the official said.
The accused collected Rs 23.7 lakh from around 12 people on the false promise, Narkar said, adding that he later told the victims that he had got transferred to the district collectorate.
However, when the victims did not get jobs and approached the collectorate to enquire about him, they were informed by authorities that no such person was employed there, Narkar said.
The woman victim subsequently filed a complaint at the Shree Nagar police station on Wednesday evening.
A case was registered and a probe was on, Narkar said, adding that no arrest was made so far.
