Pune, 22nd July 2026: A Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) employee, a temple trustee and several others have been booked for allegedly cheating unemployed youth by promising jobs in the civic body and collecting large sums of money.
The accused allegedly issued forged appointment letters carrying fake signatures, seals and the PMC emblem to make the recruitment appear genuine.
The case came to light after the PMC administration lodged a complaint with Shivajinagar Police. Based on the complaint filed by Shalaka Ghoge, Superintendent in the PMC General Administration Department, police registered an FIR against PMC education department peon Shivanand Balasaheb Patil, temple trustee Rajendra Baban Khedekar, and another accused.
According to police, the fraud took place between March 2022 and July 2026. The accused allegedly promised government jobs in the Pune Municipal Corporation to unemployed candidates and collected substantial amounts from them.
In one case, a youth from Patan was allegedly promised a Junior Engineer post. The accused reportedly handed him a fake appointment letter carrying forged signatures of PMC officials, counterfeit seals and the civic body's emblem. The victim realised he had been cheated after he was never allowed to join the post despite receiving the appointment order.
In a related development, Bharati Vidyapeeth Police have also registered a separate case after two more job seekers alleged they were cheated while being promised clerk posts in the PMC.
According to the complaint filed by a 39-year-old man, the accused allegedly collected ₹30.5 lakh from the victims in exchange for the promised jobs.
The FIR names Shivanand Patil, Rajendra Khedekar, Sanjay Ananta Bhalerao (63), Amit Daravatkar (45), Anand Londhanwar (32), and Amit Suhas Deshpande (45) as accused.
Investigators suspect the scam may involve additional middlemen or senior officials and have begun examining whether a larger recruitment racket was operating. Further investigation is underway.
