Ex-army man-turned-politician held for job fraud in Varanasi

Lallan Yadav, who served in the Indian Army for about a decade and contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from the Ballia parliamentary constituency, has been arrested by the special task force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh Police for allegedly running a job scam. Yadav, who had a reward of ₹25,000 on his head, was apprehended near Srinagar Colony under the Sarnath Police Station area in Varanasi, the STF said in a statement on Thursday.

According to the STF, Yadav, a resident of Ghazipur district currently living in Varanasi, was the kingpin of a gang accused of duping job seekers in the Purvanchal region. Acting on a tip-off, a team led by deputy superintendent of police (Dy SP) Shailesh Pratap Singh and inspector Amit Srivastava launched a crackdown, resulting in his arrest.

During interrogation, Yadav revealed that he joined the Indian Army in 1998 but went on unauthorised leave in 2010 and never returned. By 2017, he had begun orchestrating a massive scam, allegedly collecting ₹3 lakh each from around 50 individuals, promising them recruitment into the Indian Army. Most of the collected money was deposited into his bank account.

Using funds obtained through fraud, Yadav contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate from Ballia but lost. When the promised job recruitments failed to materialise, victims and their families demanded their money back. To evade their demands, Yadav allegedly issued fake appointment letters and delayed repayments by leveraging his political influence.

An FIR (first information report) registered at Ghosi police station in Mau district under sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, 406, and 506 of the IPC details his offences. Declared absconding, he had been in hiding in Varanasi before his arrest.

The STF is now investigating the full extent of the fraud, which targeted dozens of unsuspecting individuals with false promises of government jobs.