Two Bhartiya Janta Party affiliates from north Kashmir have allegedly extorted money from a local resident in the north Kashmir area on the pretext of providing them jobs.
Naseer Ahmed, a resident of Pattan speaking to the media said that two affiliates of the Bhartiya Janta Party took money from him promising him a job. “Initially I was hesitant to offer them any money, but they made me meet a senior BJP leader from Baramulla at least twice. So, I thought the two were genuine people,” Naseer said.
After the two repeatedly assured him of a Government job, he paid them six lakh rupees. “The job never came, so I went to ask them to return my money, but they never paid me back. I am not the only one, there are many they have extorted money from,” he said.
“As I pressurized them to pay my money back, they started threatening me and provided false information to the Police and Army who raided me. Meanwhile, one of the accused called us and threatened us with the name of BJP and said that he will get us cut into pieces,” Naseer added.
When Naseer met the Police officials for a complaint that the two had extorted money from him, the accused started misinforming the Police against him, he alleged.
Meanwhile, another local resident claimed that he was arrested and the BJP activist Ubaid Nazir promised that he would be released after paying an amount of 20,000 to the concerned official.
Shabir Ahmed said that he had been arrested by the Police. “The accused extorted an amount of 15,000 from my family for getting me out of the jail,” he claimed.
Though the victims claimed that the duo was affiliated with the BJP, the party denied any links with them. A BJP member told The Kashmiriyat that the two are not affiliated with the Bhartiya Janta Party.
The Jammu Kashmir Police said that it arrested two fraudsters involved in fake job scams and extortion in Pattan, District Baramulla.
In a press release police said, On 11/01/2023, Police received information that two political activists from the Pattan area are demanding money on the assurances that they will arrange Government Jobs and are providing fake appointment orders and are also threatening the general public.
Police swung into action and promptly registered a case FIR under relevant sections in PS Pattan.
During the course of the investigation, Police after utilizing all technical and human intelligence and strenuous efforts arrested 2 accused namely Ubaid Nazir Sofi and Mohammad Iqbal.
It was learnt during interrogation that these scamsters were cheating common people on the pretext of giving jobs in police department and taking huge amount of money from them.
Once the victim started asking money back, they used to issue threats to them, Police said.
Further investigation into the matter is on.