Team Herald
PONDA: The cash-for-jobs scam in Goa took a fresh turn on Thursday, with a retired Water Resources Department engineer accusing arrested queen-pin Deepashree Gawas of defrauding 44 people of a whopping Rs 3.8 crore with the promise of government jobs, especially in the Forest and Town and Country Planning departments.
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When Deepashree couldn’t provide jobs and people started demanding their money back, she returned only Rs 25 lakh from the entire amount she had collected, according to the complaint filed by retired engineer Sandeep Parab at the Mardol Police Station.
Parab’s association with Deepashree goes back to 2023, when she made friends with the Tariwada-Marcel resident and his wife, posing as an employee of the Land Survey Department and later as a Block Development Officer (BDO). She took Rs 3 lakh from the family with the promise of a government job for their daughter.
Deepashree dropped the names of multiple high-ranking officers in the administration and even some ministers, and said that there would be more job opportunities after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. According to Parab, he was taken in by her assurances and spoke to his friends and relatives and asked them to arrange for the money to bag government jobs.
Parab mentioned in his complaint that Deepashree had collected nearly Rs 3.8 crore, but failed to provide jobs. When people started asking for their money back, she returned only Rs 25 lakh and he returned the money he had taken from some people. Deepashree’s cheques bounced as well.
Parab has submitted to the police a list of the cash amounts paid by the job aspirants, along with details of recruitment assured in Forest and TCP Departments. Adv Shailesh Gawas, representing Parab, said that most payments were made in cash and demanded a thorough investigation into the scam and said that Deepashree’s property, gold and cars should be seized.
Gawas said, “My client was disturbed and even thought of committing suicide before approaching me to file a police complaint. He received death threats from those who were demanding refund of their money.”
Meanwhile, Deepashree’s police custody has been extended by five days on Thursday by the judicial magistrate first class (JMFC), Ponda.
Fresh case against Priya
Yadav in Bicholim
BICHOLIM: Another person swindled by Priya Yadav approached the Bicholim Police on Thursday, claiming that Yadav had made her pay Rs 35 lakh with the promise of buying property and railway stalls. Yadav is already in police custody for duping people with the promise of jobs in the railways. In her complaint, Jayanti Raghunath Vaigankar, a resident of Bordem in Bicholim, stated that she had paid Yadav the money in parts between 2017 and June 2024.
She had also given the gold ornaments, for which Yadav didn’t pay her anything. Vaigankar also alleged that Yadav had cheated her three sisters of lakhs with similar promises.
