Two booked in Chandrapur for cheating youth of Rs 9 lakh with promise of railway job

A youth from Chandrapur has been cheated of money on the promise of a government job in the railways, and a case has been registered against two men at Chandrapur City police station. The fraud is being widely discussed in police circles.

The complainant, Vishal Sudhakar Wankhede (37), a resident of Machhi Market, Binba Ward, Chandrapur, works in a private job to support his family. According to his complaint, in November 2014 Swaraj Shamraoji Bhandakkar, a resident of Pathanpura Ward, Chandrapur, approached him and a friend at the Mali Samaj Bhavan. Bhandakkar told them he would get them a government job in the railway department. He also claimed that a person known and trusted by him had got a job in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation. He said the job would cost Rs 9 lakh in all.

The complainant first asked for time to think. In June 2015, he handed Rs 3 lakh in cash to Bhandakkar in the Gandhi Chowk area of Chandrapur city. Bhandakkar then took him to an office in Hudkeshwar, Nagpur, and introduced him to the second accused, Nitin Damodhar Darunkar. Darunkar told him to pay the balance after receiving the joining letter.

The matter then dragged on for years. In 2017, saying the joining letter was ready, the accused called the complainant and his friend to Nagpur. They were taken from there to Indore, where another Rs 6 lakh in cash was taken from them. No joining letter was received on reaching Indore. They were then taken to the Gateway of India in Mumbai, where too they got only verbal assurances.

When the complainant followed up repeatedly, the accused began to evade him. The cheques the accused had given were returned by the bank over a spelling mistake and other reasons. When he asked for his money, the accused kept giving evasive replies. Up to December 2025, they returned only Rs 2 lakh, through PhonePe. They flatly refused to return the remaining Rs 7 lakh.

The accused are also alleged to have threatened to kill the complainant, saying, "Do what you want, nobody can do anything to us." On realising he had been cheated, the complainant came to Chandrapur City police station and filed a complaint.

On the complaint, a case has been registered against Swaraj Shamraoji Bhandakkar and Nitin Damodhar Darunkar under Sections 318(4) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. Sub-Inspector Krunal Ramteke is investigating the case further.