LUCKNOW, July 11 -- A recruitment fraud has surfaced in the Uttar Pradesh Public Works Department (PWD), where fraudsters allegedly issued fake interview letters in the name of the department's special secretary for recruitment to clerical posts, prompting several unsuspecting candidates to report for interviews before the scam was detected. Although the issue came to the department's notice between May 1 and May 16, when candidates carrying the purported interview letters arrived at the PWD office to appear for interviews, it came into the public domain on Thursday after Hazratganj police registered an FIR against unidentified persons. According to the complaint lodged by Ashutosh Kumar Dwivedi, special secretary, PWD, forged interview letters were circulated in his name claiming that interviews for recruitment to the post of clerk (lipik) in Section-1 of the department would be held between May 1 and May 16 through the Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Commission (UPSSSC). Departmental officials became suspicious after several candidates arrived carrying the interview letters. Verification revealed that no such recruitment process had been initiated. A subsequent internal inquiry found that there is no provision for recruitment to clerical posts in the PWD through interviews and that neither the department nor the special secretary had issued any such letters. The inquiry subsequently confirmed that the documents were forged. Based on the findings of the internal probe, Dwivedi lodged a formal complaint with the police, following which Hazratganj police registered an FIR on Thursday against unidentified persons on charges of forgery and cheating under Section 318 of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Hazratganj station house officer (SHO) Vikram Singh said police have launched an investigation to identify those responsible for preparing and circulating the forged interview letters. Investigators are also examining whether the accused collected or attempted to collect money from candidates on the promise of government jobs, or whether the forged letters were part of a larger recruitment racket....