GCC job scam: How 1st victim was given salary, promotion, hike to fine-tune plan, cheat 22 more

CHENNAI: He was their first victim. He was also an inadvertent accomplice as he was the showpiece used by the con gang to recruit 20 more individuals, who were convinced that they were working for the “Greater Chennai Corporation” as conservancy inspectors and other government jobs.

After all, they were given work appointment orders near Ripon Building, and were initially paid monthly salaries for their 'work'. The recruits were even made to install a GPS camera app on their phones and asked to send geotagged photographs to their supervisors from their 'worksites'.

What they didn’t realise was that their salary was funded by the new victim who gave a lump sum ranging from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 12 lakh for the job and the cycle continued.

The elaborate con started with the unassuming first victim who when realised he was taken for a ride, filed a complaint with the city police.

A police team headed by Periamet Police Inspector (Crime) Silambarasan has arrested three persons – I Joshitha (28), an MBA graduate, and her accomplices, V Revathi (45) and R Jayachandran (42) – all from Chintadripet – so far for cheating 23 aspirants of over Rs 1.35 crore.

“Half of the money they collected was used to pay the salaries. We have recovered 29 grams of gold jewellery and some forged documents from the accused. We are checking with the registration department if the accused had bought any property with the ill-gotten money,” a senior police official said.

The genesis of the con was in early 2023, starting with the complainant, R Venkatachalam. When Venkatachalam's 72-year-old father lamented to his neighbour about his son's unemployed status, he was introduced to one of the accused, R Jayachandran (42), a BJP cadre who claimed that he could pull some strings to get Venkatachalam a job in the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC).

Jayachandran introduced Venkatachalam to Joshitha, who posed as a GCC official and demanded Rs 12 lakh for the post of conservancy inspector. The victim had paid the amount in three instalments. He was given a bogus ID card, work appointment order, and other documents.

After his 'posting', between August 2023 and July 2024, Venkatachalam inspected garbage bins in his assigned area and promptly sent geotagged photographs of the bins to Joshitha, his 'supervisor' and 'trainer' as part of his 'work assignment'. Venkatachalam received a monthly salary of Rs 42,000 in this period.

“Every time Joshitha met with a new victim to convince them to pay money to get the job, Venkatachalam was taken along as a success model, thereby convincing the other victims,” a police officer said.

After July 2024, Joshitha again approached Venkatachalam and told him that a higher post was available for Rs 4 lakh and Venkatachalam arranged the amount too. From October 2024 till March 2025, he worked in the upgraded post and received a salary of Rs 56,000 every month.

Joshitha then told Venkatachalam that the post of “Assistant Commissioner” in the civic body could be availed for a further Rs 10 lakh and he had obliged for that too. However, Venakatachalam did not receive his increased salary after which he contacted the gang. As they gave evasive replies, he approached the GCC headquarters and learned that the appointment order and the ID card issued to him were forged after which he filed a complaint with the Periamet police.

“The supervisors gave a holiday to their recruits on days of VIP visits in the area, where they were assigned, as the actual conservancy workers and supervisors would swarm the neighbourhood on those days,” a police official said.

Based on preliminary investigations, Police have charged the MBA graduate Joshitha as the main accused. The other accused, V Revathi (45) runs a photocopy (Xerox) store and she had aided Joshitha in preparing the fake work appointment orders and ID cards.

“A copy of the GCC work appointment order was shared with the accused by a retired civic body staff. A probe is under way to ascertain his role,” an official said.

Police are also searching for another accomplice of Joshitha, whom she introduced as her senior officer in GCC. The case is likely to be transferred to the job racket wing of the Central Crime Branch.

Also Read: Long con: Gang pays salary, increment for 'govt job' for 2 yrs, cheats man of Rs 26 lakh