By Neyaz Farooquee
It was just two months since 20 years old Rambira Kumar got his job letter from the Indian Railways. He was thankful to the incumbent Railway Minister Lalu Yadav for his job through ministry quota. At last his faith in Yadav, who hailed from Kumar’s district Gopal Ganj, repaid.
While most of Kumar’s friends had nothing substantial to boast off, he was happy to work as a fourth grade Railway employee. But all of a sudden it changed when he realized he is not being marked in employee register. He smelled something fishy in it.
His worst fear came true when he approached his station master to verify. Not only was he not being marked for the month, his name was entirely missing from the employees list. Further enquiry revealed he was never in the list.
Fortunately, even though he was not in the list, he was remunerated on time. But he did not want to miss the future payments so he approached Siwan Railway station to get it rectified.
At Siwan station, he came across something he had never anticipated. Kumar discovered he was not the only one who was missing from the employee list. He met Chhote Lal, his neighbour’s relative, who was appointed at Chunaar Railway station near Varanasi. A candid conversation between the two revealed that they were getting their salaries paid on time but both were missing from the employees list.
On enquiring with the Railways officials at Siwan Station, they found their appointment letters to be fake. “Then we realised we were duped”. The monthly salary apparently paid by Railways was a trap to catch more fishes.
“When we heard Kumar has been appointed as a trackman through the Ministry quota due to the efforts of one Samodh Gupta alias Santji, we had no reason to doubt his authenticity. He was from the Railway Minister’s village,” says Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Chhote Lal’s brother-in-law. “We paid him Rs 2.85 lakh in advance for the job,” he adds.
Surrender Shah, Kumar’s father, reveals he was approached by Santji claiming to be a close associate of the Minister’s elder brother Subhash Yadav, and his Private Secretary RK Mahajan. “He promised he’ll arrange a job for my son in the Railways through ministry quota if I pay him Rupees one lakh in advance.” Shah was told that a security deposit of Rs two lakh was needed for an appointment through ministry quota.
“I gave him one lakh and the relevant documents for submission to the Rail Division,” says Shah.
Three days later, on Sept 1, 2008, Santji returned with a recruitment letter apparently signed by the Divisional Rail Manager, Varanasi. He asked Shah to pay the rest one lakh. “I paid him after selling my wife’s jewellery,” rues Shah.
Then Santji asked Kumar to get a medical check-up done at a private hospital in Siwan, where thankfully Kumar had to pay ‘concessional rate’ due to Santji. After passing the medical check-up, his appointment was confirmed as a Trackman at Phulwaria Railway station, the Minister’s ancestral village.
Under the impression that Kumar has been recruited in Railways through Ministry quota, many paid Samodji in advance in hope of getting a permanent job . Some in thousands, some even in lakhs. Dr Rajendra Prasad was one of them. He paid Rs 5 lakh in all, for his Brother-in-law.
When asked who else in his knowledge were duped by Santji, Shah counts the names on his finger, “Shivaji Gupta-- four lakh, Kamta Singh-- One lakh, Surendra Giri-- 1.20 lakh, Nagina Singh-- 1.14 lakh, Anup Ram-- 60 thousand...” The list goes on.
When Kumar and Lal realised they were duped, they approached Santji. He asked them to refrain from making noise otherwise they would lose a chance to get transferred. "He assured us a job at a new Railway line under construction near Varanasi within six month. Otherwise, he promised to return our money," says Kumar.
A year passed by but nothing happened. “Now, when we approach him, he threatens us of dire consequences,” says Shah. He adds, “After losing all hopes to persuade Santji to return our money, we went to his village. His house was a like a shanty and his relatives, when asked about Santji, disowned him.”
The matter is sub-judice but Santji and his accomplices, says Dr. Prasad, are roaming around free. “These people, claiming to be the Minister’s relative or villager, are duping innocents. But I feel if it comes to the knowledge of Laloo Yadav, we would surely get justice.”
