Indian Railways: The job-seekers tricked into counting trains

The Indian Railways is one of the country's largest employers

Police in India's capital Delhi are investigating a complaint about a job fraud in which around 28 men were tricked into counting trains for days.

The men believed they were training for a job with the Indian Railways.

A former army official, who said he unknowingly put the men in contact with the alleged scammers, alerted the police about the fraud.

The victims paid between 200,000 rupees ($2,400; £2,000) and 2.4m rupees each to get the job, local media reported.

The Delhi police's economic offences wing started investigating the alleged scam in November but the news became public only last week.

The men, who are from the southern Tamil Nadu state, were asked to stand at different platforms of the main railway station in Delhi for eight hours every day for about a month. There, they counted the trains that passed through the station every day, news agency Press Trust of India reported.

The men were promised they would be hired as ticket examiners, traffic assistants or clerks in the railways, one of India's largest employers.

One of the victims told The Indian Express newspaper that he had been looking for ways to support his family after the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We went to Delhi for training - all we had to do was count trains. We were sceptical of the activity, but the accused was a good friend of our neighbour. I feel ashamed now," he said.

Subbuswamy, the former army man who filed the complaint with the police, told PTI that he had been helping young men from his hometown in Tamil Nadu Virudhunagar district find jobs "without any monetary interest" for himself.

He said he met a person called Sivaraman who claimed to have connections with lawmakers and ministers and offered to find government jobs for the unemployed men.

He then put Subbuswamy and the victims in touch with another man, who even took the candidates for fake medical examinations. The man later stopped answering phone calls from them.

Some of the victims said they borrowed money to pay the scammers.

Scams for government jobs are often reported in India, where millions of young people are desperate for stable, secure employment. In March 2021, police in the southern Hyderabad city said they had arrested two men believed to have tricked around a hundred candidates who thought they were being hired by the railways.

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