Ludhiana: The Model Town police yesterday registered a case against a man from Hoshiarpur who duped three people of Rs 21.50 lakh on the pretext of getting them recruited in Punjab Police. The suspect has been identified as Pinder Singh Sodhi, a resident of Mahilpur Haveli, Hoshiarpur. The complainant Gurminder Singh, a resident of Farwahi, Barnala, said that in March this year he had lodged a police complaint that the suspect had assured him of direct recruitment to the post of constable in Punjab Police, claiming his good relations with senior officials of Punjab government. The complainant said, “Since I, Major Singh and Joginder Singh were looking for government jobs, we paid Rs 21.50 lakh to the suspect for recruitment in Punjab Police. Even after receiving the money, he failed to get us jobs. When we asked the suspect to return at least some of the money, he refused. Following this, we lodged a police complaint in March and after investigation of more than four months, the police registered a case against the suspect.” Investigating officer Assistant Sub Inspector Baldev Singh said that after registering the case, the police has started further investigation of the case and soon the accused will be arrested. This is not an isolated case, cases of such fraud have come to light before this as well. Fraudsters have defrauded lakhs of rupees in the name of getting jobs in Punjab Police. The police is also advising people that there is no system of direct recruitment in the police department and whenever recruitment takes place, the entire process will be transparent and the department will publicize the recruitment program through newspapers or other media. In June this year, the Vigilance Bureau had busted a fake recruitment racket in the name of getting jobs in Punjab Police and also arrested two police personnel.