Three individuals have been arrested on charges of defrauding more than 300 people under the pretext of sending them for employment to various countries. The arrested individuals are Rajkumar Bhatt from Chitwan, Navin Vik from Kaski, and Pawan Pant. They are accused of embezzling money by promising employment in countries like France, New Zealand, Cambodia, among others. According to information provided by the police in a journalists’ conference, the arrested individuals had swindled amounts ranging from 5 to 10 million rupees from over 300 people in the past 3-4 years, totaling more than 1.5 billion rupees.
According to the Kathmandu Metropolitan Police Crime Investigation Division, these individuals lured youths searching for employment through various social media platforms. They would collect money from them under the guise of arranging jobs in Europe, and subsequently prepare fake documents such as visas, work permits, hotel bookings, and police reports. They would then collect amounts ranging from 500,000 to 1 million rupees per person and become unreachable afterwards, as revealed by the police investigation.
The group’s cunning operations have been exposed by the police. They would deposit money in their own names, transfer it to others’ accounts, and withdraw money through checks. Raju Kumar Basnet, who used bank accounts in his name, is currently in Delhi Bazaar prison facing charges related to international employment fraud. The police suspect that this group has embezzled more than 1.5 billion rupees from over 300 victims.
Following complaints from 15 individuals, including Navin Chaudhary, the police had initiated investigations.
