Swindler allegedly offered ‘fake offer letters’ to victims 

KATHMANDU, JULY 8

Police have arrested Bijay Pandey, 34, on charge of swindling lakhs of rupees from at least seven persons on the pretext of securing them employment at World Health Organisation’s Nepal office.

Pandey, who hails from Devchuli Municipality of Nawalparasi East would lure people saying that he held higher rank in the organisation and his recommendation would secure them jobs. He used to produce fake ‘job offer letters’ from WHO to the victims in exchange of hefty amounts from them.

Police said he used to lure people saying they could earn a lot of money once they were employed at WHO. Most of the victims were college graduates.

Police knew about the swindler’s act after Ashmita Adhikari, in her mid-twenties, of Chitwan filed a police complaint against him for swindling almost Rs 200,000.

Pandey, who used to live in a rented room at Tinkune, Kathmandu, had approached Adhikari in mid-May and lured her to join WHO, where he claimed to be working.

Pandey was able to convince the girl to deposit the money in his bank account during in two-months-period.

Only a few days earlier, the girl upon knowing that she was cheated filed a complaint against the man at Metropolitan Police Circle at Baneshwor. He was arrested yesterday from Baneshwor.

Police had earlier received complaints about the man swindling money from many persons across the valley but were not able to arrest him.

Another youth, Nishan Babu Ghimire also from Chitwan, had filed a complaint against Pandey for swindling Rs 350,000 in exchange of a job at WHO.

Deepak Khanal, Dhan Bahadur Chhetri and Kasi Gurung of Manang, and two women Sarita Bhandari and Rama Ghimire, whose address has not been revealed, have filed complaints at the police against the swindlers.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 9, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.