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Kalimpong, Nov. 14: A two-member team of the Delhi police was in town to probe a case in which a placement agency had duped eight persons from the hills of Rs 16 lakh.

The eight, four of whom are from Kalimpong, had paid the money to Real Service, the Delhi-based agency, in 2003 through its local franchisee, Global Placements. Once run by PDF leader and lawyer Pratap Khati, the franchisee is now closed. Khati had on August 23, 2005, lodged a complaint against Real’s managing director S.D. Sharma at the Kalkaji police station in New Delhi, accusing him of not getting jobs for his clients despite accepting the money.

“On the same day, I also lodged a separate complaint with the deputy commissioner of police, economic offence, against Sharma,” said Khati. However, the victims of the fraud are not too happy with Khati himself. “When things didn’t materialise, instead of acting promptly, he waited for more than two years before complaining against Sharma,” said one of them.

Khati, in his defence, said: “It is on the basis of my complaint that the police filed an FIR (on October 6 this year) against Sharma, who promptly secured an anticipatory bail from the high court.” The Delhi police team that left town yesterday, however, said they were not authorised to speak on the subject.

Tika Gazmer, a resident of 16 Mile, said he had given Rs 1.8 lakh to the agency for his son Sachin, but now he fears that the money is lost. “When we threatened to file a criminal complaint, Sharma sent us a lawyer’s notice warning us that we would risk forfeiting our money if we carried out the threat,” he said