Lawyer held for running job racket

Delhi: A 29-year-old woman, enrolled as an advocate with Tamil Nadu Bar Council, was arrested for duping four merchant navy employees from Saket on Tuesday. The accused, identified as Tanuja, was involved in an international job racket along with her associate Vijaypal (30). They operated through the Internet.

Lawyer to outlaw
"The woman is an advocate by profession. We recovered 21 passports, 11 cell phones, two laptops and printers, a hard disc, cheque books, forged fake documents and police verification forms, advocate identity cards etc from their possession," said a police officer.

The racket came to light on November 1 when four merchant navy employees were picked up by the police for quarrelling in Saket. "They said they were duped by a woman called Sonia Maan, who took Rs 10 lakh and their passports from them, assuring them of jobs in Canada. Vijaypal, based in PVR Saket, was dealing with them and the four were fighting with him only when the police arrived. At his instance, mastermind Tanuja alias Sonia Maan was apprehended from her residence at Khanpur area of south Delhi," said DCP (south) Chhaya Sharma.

Lured through SMSes
During interrogation, the accused confessed to the crime. It was also revealed that the complainants had received SMS regarding good jobs in Canada through a Canadian Recruitment Service named as "Immigration 2 Quebec". They later even got a call from a High Commission number situated in Delhi. They then immediately transferred Rs 20,000 to Recruitment Services. Later, an email told them that their job offer would be processed through Sonia Maan, an enrolled Lawyer on the list of CSIC stationed in Delhi, which was genuine. Then they paid Rs 2.5 lakh each to them.

Foreign connections
The arrested woman has been associating with many Nigerian nationals, and she took their help in creating fake email IDs, hacking important mails, maintaining access in the high commission and embassy. First they would surf the Internet, select CVs of potential victims and approach them through SMS with a job offer. Later, they would ask for money to meet expenses of various procedural requirements.