Recruitment scam: Case of 130 ‘fake’ appointments of policemen surfaces in Hyderabad

Conned men approach Sindh govt for jobs after receiving 10-month 'fake' training

KARACHI: Around 130 men in Hyderabad region were conned into believing that they have landed jobs as policemen only to find out the harsh truth after a 10-month-long fake training.

This recent recruitment scam was unearthed when the swindled men approached the Sindh government for appointment letters.

According to one of the victims, around 130 fake appointment letters were issued for the post of constable in March 2014. After collecting money from these candidates, some police officials called them in for medical tests and allowed them to attend a 10-month-long training session at the police training centre in Ganjjo Takkar, Hyderabad. When the training period ended and the recruits started demanding salaries, their senior officers asked them to go back to their hometowns as their services were no longer required.



Holding the copies of appointment orders, medical certificates and training cards, the group has approached senior officials in the Sindh government but have yet to see any action.

Some candidates even showed a letter issued from 'Principal Police Recruit Training Centre, Hyderabad @ Ganjjo Takkar' to Sindh Bank's Latifabad manager to open their salary accounts. "The following newly appointed police constables of this training institution are permanent government employees of Sindh Police Department," stated the letter, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune. "You are therefore requested that new bank account of these constables be opened for their monthly salary [sic]."

Former IG's departure and its impact

Given such evidence, it came as a surprise for one of the recruits, Tariq Ali, son of Samano Khan, of Sanghar district, when Sindh IG Ghulam Hyder Jamali was removed from his post in the first week of this month and nearly all his colleagues were locked in the barracks of the training centre for 24 hours.

"Initially, we were told that senior police officials from Karachi are coming. The duty officer personally came to us and strictly asked not to go outside," said Ali, who had given Rs600,000 to a local agent to get the job.

Soon after the officer's visit, most of the candidates protested and demanded their one-year outstanding salary. "Each constable is supposed to be paid a monthly salary of Rs24,277," shared Ali, adding that they were not paid even a single penny since the appointment. "During our training, we paid for our daily expenses from our own pockets." Ali was one of the lucky ones who was able to mount pressure on the local agent, who is also a working policeman, and was able to get back Rs500,000.

Another victim, Nadeem Ali son of Imdad Ali of Benazirabad district, paid Rs700,000 for the same job. The local agent who had promised the job has now left for Karachi, he said.

Mir Hassan, son of Mohammad Khan of Tando Adam, resorted to such an appointment after failing to secure a government job in any other department. Hassan, who has completed his Bachelor’s of Arts, met someone who guaranteed him a police job in exchange for money. Hassan sold two of his buffalos and took Rs500,000 as loans from relatives to pay Rs650,000 to the constable who offered the job.

“During my stay at the training centre, I spent around Rs75,000 more,” he said, adding that the middleman has refused to pay him back.

From top to bottom

According to a senior police officer who requested anonymity, the candidates belonging to Hyderabad, Sukkur, Khairpur, Benazirabad and Sanghar have fallen prey to this scandal. "The entire chain in the police from the bottom to the higher authorities is involved in selling police jobs by violating the rules," he said.

"These were excessive appointment but the practice has been stopped after the Supreme Court's action against the former IG [Jamali]," he added. Meanwhile, SP Nisar Brohi, who works at the Principal Recruitment Training Centre in Hyderabad, refuted the allegations against him. "I have no idea about this scam. No one has even lodged complaints about it," he said.  When his attention was diverted towards appointment orders issued by him and the letters written to the bank to open salary accounts, he said, "Someone else would have done it using my name."

The Sindh home minister promised, however, to look into the matter by initiating an impartial inquiry into the fake orders.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th,  2016.