Belagavi youth duped of Rs 14 lakh with fake London IT job offer; 5 booked

Belagavi: Shahapur police have registered a cheating case against five individuals, including two natives of Belagavi and three based in London, for allegedly duping a youth of Rs 14 lakh on the pretext of securing him an IT engineer’s job in London.

The accused have been identified as Sahana Gourgounda, originally from Anantshayan Galli, Belagavi, currently residing in London, Omkar Gourgounda from Anantshayan Galli, and London-based trio Mallesh Reddy, Adhyay Kohli, and Mithila Sarkar.

According to police, the complainant, Ganga Mangle, 28, a resident of Khadebazar in Shahapur and an employee with a private firm in Bengaluru, came into contact with Sahana and Omkar through a relative. The duo allegedly promised to secure him a job as an IT engineer with a reputed company in London and informed him that the process would cost Rs 19 lakh.

Believing the offer to be genuine, Mangle transferred Rs 1 lakh to Sahana’s bank account on Dec 21, 2024. The accused allegedly continued to assure him that the recruitment process was progressing and sought additional payments at various stages.

To arrange the funds, the complainant reportedly availed a Rs 23 lakh loan from ICICI Bank in Bengaluru on Feb 6, 2025. A few days later, on Feb 11, he contacted the accused Mallesh Reddy and transferred Rs 6 lakh to the account provided.

Police said that on March 1, 2025, Adhyay Kohli and Mithila Sarkar allegedly demanded further payment, assuring the complainant that his appointment would be confirmed soon. Trusting their claims, Mangle transferred another Rs 7 lakh to Mithila Sarkar’s account.

Despite collecting a total of Rs 14 lakh, the accused allegedly neither provided the promised job nor returned the money. After repeated attempts to recover the amount failed, the complainant realised he had been cheated and approached the police.

Based on his complaint, Shahapur police have registered a case against all five accused under relevant sections of cheating and fraud. Further investigation is under way.