Army recruitment racket: Ex-havildar held

Ludhiana: Division Number 5 police have booked an ex-Army man for providing fake admit cards to Army aspirants.
The accused has been identified as Gurcharan Singh of Sudhar village, who had retired from Army as a havildar. Sources said the accused is a member of the army recruitment gang that was busted by Ropar police in January.
The case has been registered on the complaint of Col Vishal Dubey, director recruiting, Army Recruiting Office, Ludhiana, under Sections 420 (cheating) of the IPC.
The Army Recruiting Office Ludhiana said some villagers of Sudhar had approached it with similar complaints against Gurcharan, alleging that he had duped them by giving them fake admit cards for recruitment in the Army.
The office had a written statement from the complainants where they had claimed that one Gurcharan Singh was providing candidates fake admit cards after charging Rs 65,000 per aspirant. A thorough investigation was carried out by ARO Ludhiana and Police Station Division Number 5, Ludhiana.
ASI Tajinder Singh, investigating officer, said in the investigation, the complaints were found to be true following which an FIR has been lodged.
On February 16, the Army Recruitment Office Ludhiana had caught 35 recruits, who got enrolled in the Army in September 2018, for using fraudulent methods to get into the Army. A gang of miscreants had been arrested in Ropar on January 19 which was in illegal possession of fake stamps and seals of tehsildars, sub-tehsildars of Ludhiana and Ropar districts.
These accused were verifying residence certificate of candidates by using fake stamps and seals to help candidates of other states get jobs in Punjab cadre.