Nearly 176 persons have been duped by a fake office, resembling the actual health department office of the Uttar Pradesh government, on the pretext of jobs, police said on Wednesday.

The racket was busted after the arrest of one Pradeep Mishra from near Purvanchal Apartment in Vibhuti Khand.

Raj Kishore Yadav, the Station House Officer of Vibhuti Khand, said, "The arrested accused disclosed during interrogation that he and his aides, Ram Ashray and Kamlesh Yadav were running a fake organisation in the name of Manav Vikas Swasthya Seva Sansthan.

"They also created a fake website named 'IndianHealth.in'. They called this organisation a unit of the health department to the candidates and collected money by promising to appoint them on the posts of District Coordinator, District Manager, Block Health Officers."

"To appear genuine to the candidates, they provided fake and forged appointment letters and also organised their training for two months in Lucknow and other districts, after which they absconded with all the money," said Yadav.

Sources in the police added that the accused used to charge from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh depending upon the post.

"They also conducted interviews of candidates and gave them identity cards," said the police official.