Army deserter held, was running a recruitment racket

AGRA: A paratrooper who had allegedly deserted from the ranks eight months ago has been arrested by the Army in Agra. Manoj Singh, who was in the elite Special Forces 1st Para battalion based in Nahan of

Himachal Pradesh

, was allegedly running a private coaching institute, giving physical training and assisting aspirants in written exam papers in Agra.

A resident of Deori road here, Singh has been sent to the quarter-guard (army jail) and will soon be handed over to his battalion.

According to multiple highly placed sources in the Army, the paratrooper was charging from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 8 lakh from candidates and even assured them that he would hand over leaked exam papers prior to the day of the written exam.

The Army is going to conduct written examination on November 27 for the recruitment of jawans.

"Singh was working with a man who is politically well-connected. The other man has been identified as Pramod

Jadaun

, and the duo were running a coaching institute under the garb of a property dealership in S R City on the ring road in

Rohta Nagar

of Jakhuada area in Agra. They had proper infrastructure for conducting the training of candidates, who approached them for getting into the Army,” sources said.

"The apprehended deserter was using photographs clicked during his posting in sensitive areas, to influence the victims. The kingpin is Pramod Jadaun, a civilian, currently on the run. In September, with the help of STF and local police we tried to raid their centres, but he managed to flee along with all the evidence,” added a source.

TOI spoke to some of the aspirants who were duped of money on the pretext of being recruited by the Army. Harinder Singh, 21, from Kagraul, said, “Singh and Jadaun asked me to pay Rs 3 lakh to join the coaching in September, when there was recruitment going on in Jhansi. They assured me that they would get papers leaked and that I would be recruited. I paid them Rs 20,000, but now Jadaun is underground and Singh has been arrested.”

Another aspirant, Ravikant Tyagi, said, “They asked me to pay Rs 8 lakh and assured me that I could clear the physical, medical and written exams without even appearing for them. But I didn’t pay them, though there were over 25-30 candidates in their institute who claimed they had all paid the two men a lot of money each.”

Ajay Tyagi, a candidate who was almost ready to pay Rs 3.5 lakh to the duo, said, “Singh had hanged up photos of him in uniform, which made us believe that he really could help us get recruited. There are a dozen more such institutes near Rohta Nagar in Jakhuada.”

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