The City police probe into the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) recruitment fraud has gathered momentum with the arrests of the main accused in the case.
Close on the heels of the arrest of the second accused and Thrissur native Reshmi, the police nabbed the prime accused R. Rajalakshmi of Adoor and her alleged accomplice Joyce from Kottayam on Monday.
While Joyce had been apprehended from Kottayam, Rajalakshmi who is suspected to have masterminded the scam surrendered at the office of the Kazhakuttom Cyber City Assistant Commissioner. The duo were remanded to judicial custody on Tuesday.
The job aspirants were among 84 members of a WhatsApp group that the racketeers had created to lure their victims. The probe is under way to ascertain if more people had fallen prey to the racket.
Both Reshmi and Joyce have told the police that they had acted on Rajalakshmi’s instructions. Reshmi has claimed to have approached the prime accused after being provided a false promise of a government job. While she was purportedly directed to pay a sum of ₹4 lakh, Reshmi was provided an option of paying half the amount if she could canvass more people who were in search of similar jobs.
This is believed to have led to the creation of the WhatsApp group. Joyce, who posed as a PSC official, allegedly conducted the online interviews through video-calls.