Man held for issuing fake ad promising jobs in medical college

Berhampur: Police on Thursday arrested a 37-year-old man for allegedly trying to dupe jobseekers by issuing fake advertisement for employment in different posts at the Medical College and Hospital, Phulbani, in Kandhamal district. The printed advertisement was put up on walls in different areas of Phulbani, asking people to contact through an instant messaging number.

The accused was identified as Laxmikant Meher, a resident of Chichuguda in Kalahandi's Junagarh police station limits. He was picked up from his village. "A mobile phone and some forged advertisement leaflets were seized from his possession," P Swaroop Kissan, inspector of Town police station, Phulbani, said.

Police said the accused, who runs a small shop in his village, had been arrested twice in cheating cases in Kandhamal district. While a cheating case was registered against him in Phulbani Town police station on June 17, 2019, another case was registered in Tumudibandha police station on Sept 2, 2021.

After being released on bail, he once again tried to cheat jobseekers. Akshaya Kumar Sahu, in-charge of district medical officer (DMO)-cum-superintendent, district headquarters hospital (DHH), Phulbani, lodged a complaint at Town police station on Wednesday about the false advertisement that had been put up in the name of the medical college and hospital in Phulbani, which is yet to start functioning.

The complaint stated that such an advertisement was not notified on behalf of the medical college. "It was completely false and fabricated," police quoted Sahu as saying.

Police said a case was registered against the accused and he was arrested from his village. During interrogation, he confessed to his crime. He told the police that since the day he put up the advertisement, he used to get calls from 5-6 aspirants daily.