(MENAFN- IANS) Jaipur, Oct 10 (IANS) The Rajasthan Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Thursday arrested 28 individuals posing as ex-servicemen, who had fraudulently secured jobs as security guards at the Food Corporation of India (FCI) using fake Army retirement documents.

According to IG (ATS) Vikas Kumar, FCI mandates that 90 per cent of its security personnel be retired Army soldiers.

He said that acting on a tip-off, ATS launched an investigation, revealing that several guards were using forged ex-servicemen certificates to obtain jobs through a private security agency.

“In a well-planned operation, ATS conducted a mock drill at 31 FCI depots across Kota, Bhilwara, Udaipur, and Banswara,” he said.

He added that under this pretext, all security guards were assembled and asked to submit their Army retirement documents for verification.

He pointed out that following thorough scrutiny, 28 guards were found to have submitted forged documents, including fake ID cards posing as retired Army personnel.

“These individuals were immediately arrested and their fake documents seized. The investigation revealed that each fake ex-serviceman had paid Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 to obtain counterfeit Army documents,” he said.

He added that once employed at FCI, earning salaries of over Rs 21,000 per month, they were paying monthly commissions of Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 to brokers who helped facilitate their employment.

“Some of the accused had been working at FCI for 3-4 years, indicating the depth of the racket. ATS suspects a larger network is involved and is actively investigating its extent,” he said. The ATS has so far registered three cases and expects further arrests as the investigation progresses. Authorities stated that this operation is part of a broader crackdown on document fraud and corruption in security recruitment.

IG (ATS) Vikas Kumar said that those arrested include: Bahadur Singh Bhati, Narendra Singh Natwar, Ramprasad Meena, Yashpal Singh, Kalu Singh, Bholuraam, Rajesh Singh, Gopal Singh, Himmat Singh, Vijay Singh, Pappu Singh, Kumer Singh, Sumer Singh, Atrup Singh, Chandraprakash Meena, Ramsamujh Yadav, Devendra Singh, Raghunandan Singh Hada, Mahendra Kumar Meena, Siyaram Meena, Haricharan Meena, Mahesh, Rajhans, Dinesh Singh, Gajendra Singh, Mohan Singh, Raju Singh Bhati, and others.

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