Cheated of Rs 2.5 lakh in the bargain, man files case against three of a family

Prof dumps job abroad to take up Mnc offer that never existed

Cheated of Rs 2.5 lakh in the bargain, man files case against three of a family

Rizwan, who graduated in MCA from Malnad College of Engineering from Hassan district, was working as a professor for the Department of Computer and Information Processing in South Korea since March 2006. He wanted to return to be with his aged parents and started looking for jobs in India.

Jal Vayu Vihar in Kalyan Nagar, where the complainant says the person who cheated him lives.

Husband-wife act

During this period, he got in touch with K S Manjunath, who after several email exchanges, assured to provide him a job in HCL in Noida.

Manjunath got his wife Preeti to pose as an AVP to conduct a telephonic interview.u00a0 Soon after the interview Manjunath called Rizwan, asking him to pay Rs 50,000 to Crasta and gave a Canara Bank account.

Rizwan was told that the amount would be used towards processing of the fee. Rizwan sent the money, and got another call from Preeti, who demanded Rs 2 lakh in cash to be paid at her residence in Bangalore.

She said that many top officers, including the Chairman of HCL would share the amount. The chairman later turned out to be V V Kulkarni, Preeti Manjunath alias Maia Joseph Crasta's father.

u00a0Rizwan sent the money to Preeti through his cousin living in Bangalore. Crasta informed Rizwan that he had been short-listed for the job and even e-mailed him the offer letter. She then advised him to resign from his job, and come to Delhi to start work as soon as possible.

When Rizwan reached Delhi, Preeti asked him to wait for a few days, but later started avoiding his calls giving lame excuses.

After a 22-day wait, Rizwan suspected something was fishy, and decided to seek his friends' help
in Bangalore.

Internet sleuths

His friends checked Manjunath's profile on Google, they found that Manjunath was not a DGM, but a sacked employee who himself was looking for a job.

A shocked Rizwan returned to Bangalore and went on to enquire with Preeti, who along with Kulkarni not only beat him up but also threatened him, saying they knew the Police Commissioner and the Home Minister.

Police station drama

When Rizwan went to Banasawadi police station, the Inspector-in-charge, NB Sakri shooed him away, stating that it did not come under his jurisdiction, since it was a cyber crime. "You are from Hassan, so you should file your complaint from there," he told Rizwan.

When Rizwan insisted that the accused stayed at Jal Vayu Vihar, which comes under Banaswadi police station's jurisdiction, Sakri asked him to get the accused to the station.
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It was only after Rizwan approached the cyber crime cell, Superintendent of Police G J Dsouza called up Sakri and directed him to book a case.

On Thursday, the police summoned Kulkarni who confessed to the crime. However, Manjunath and his wife Preeti managed to escape. A case of cheating against the trio has been filed, and efforts are on to track them.

"My career is ruined. I lost my job and money, and I have no confidence to attend anymore interviews," a Rizwan told Mid DAY.
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"I have been running from pillar to post to get the complaint registered, and still haven't visited my parents since my return from South Korea."

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