A retired army man was held by the Army Intelligence officials for cheating three people. He allegedly offered to help them get a job in the Army in exchange for money.

The accused has been identified as S Jayakumar, a native of Peyad in Thiruvananthapuram. He retired from the army as a Subedar Major in 2015. He had served in the army for 30 years.

He was arrested on Friday, and was remanded on Saturday after the Thampanoor police in Thiruvananthapuram registered a case against him.  

The case has been registered on a complaint lodged by Ananthu, a native of Mavelikkara in Alappuzha, who is one of the people Jayakumar lured in on the pretext of a job. He had offered a job to four youth, and demanded Rs 3 lakh from each of them. They hail from Alappuzha district.

“He has been charged with sections 170 and 420 of IPC and has been remanded”, Sub-Inspector Prakaash told TNM. Section 170 deals with those pretend as a public servant knowing they don’t hold that particular office or falsely personates any other person holding such office while 420 deals with cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property.

The 52-year-old was arrested, in a joint move by the Army Intelligence and shadow police team of the Thampanoor police. He was caught red-handed accepting money from three people at the Thampanoor Railway Station.

The officials had asked the youth to call him to come to the railway station under the pretense of handing over the money as promised.

“He was caught in a trap laid by the Army Intelligence and the shadow police. On interrogation, he said that he had earlier helped people to get a job in the army, but he denied that he took money for this,” Thampanoor police added.

The intelligence officials of the Army became skeptical when the youth took the written test in July. Jayakumar had asked them to put some special symbols on the sheet to differentiate from other candidates, which in turn put them in trouble. The cheating came to light after the candidates were questioned.