Jhansi: Jhansi police on Saturday busted a fake recruitment and cyber-fraud gang, arresting eight people and rescuing 53 others, including three women, who were allegedly being held captive in an apartment in the Rajgarh area under Premnagar police station limits.According to police, the rescued victims were allegedly confined to the premises and forced to make calls to lure people into fake job schemes. Investigators said many of the victims had themselves earlier fallen prey to a similar racket and had lost around Rs 30,000 each to the fraudsters.Police said the gang lured victims with promises of govt jobs, initially collecting Rs 1,100 as registration charges and later demanding Rs 25,000-30,000 in the name of training and securing employment.The arrested accused were identified as Ram Singh Meena (24), Lakhan Mehta (19), Bablu (23), Alok Kumar (33), Prayagraj Prajapati (21), Mohit Verma (19), Surendra and Nitesh.The matter came to light after six former victims who had managed to leave the premises lodged a complaint with police.SSP Jhansi Vikas Kumar said the victims were given psychological training sessions on how to convince and recruit others. Police also found that the accused had allegedly used a multi-level marketing operation as a cover for the racket as nutritional products of a company were found at the premises.Police said the gang claimed to have been operating from the Jhansi premises for about three months, though investigators are probing whether its activities began earlier.
