The Economic Offence Wing of the Odisha police have arrested two people accused of defrauding ₹1.47 crore from job aspirants by posing as government officials.
The two accused identified as Baikunthanath Naik and Bhimsen Moharana will be produced before the Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Bhubaneswar, on Friday.
Naik had posed as an assistant section officer while Moharana had posed as a senior official. They had assured 38 job aspirants of selection to the State police force.
One of the aspirants, Badal Kumar Raula, had registered a complaint alleging that Naik, Moharana and two others had cheated 38 job seekers of ₹1.47 crore on the pretext of enlisting their names in the supplementary selection list of Combined Police Service Examination-2013.
“Investigation so far revealed that the complainant, Mr. Raula, and 37 other victims had appeared for the Combined Police Service Examination, 2013 (CPSE-2013) conducted by Odisha Staff Selection Commission for the posts of Sub Inspectors of Police, Sergeant and Deputy Subedar,” the EOW said.
It said the final merit list of the selected candidates was published in December, 2016. “There was an impression that there would be a second or supplementary list. The victims, who had appeared in the interviews, were hopeful of getting the job in case of publication of any supplementary list,” said the investigating agency.
As per the preliminary investigation, the fraudsters exploited this situation. The accused gave a false assurance to the victim aspirants to enlist their name in the supplementary selection list. In the process, Naik had shown them a fake identity card and demanded ₹5-6 lakh from each of them.
“The complainant and others paid the amount to the fraudsters. During the period from May 2020 to November 2020, the accused took ₹1.47 crore,” the EOW said.
It was also revealed during investigation that Moharana had retired as Senior Grade Recorder from the Higher Education Department. During a search at Naik’s house, incriminating documents including 12 ATM cards as well the fake ID card of ASO were seized.
“All bank accounts have been frozen. Investigation of the case is continuing to identify and nab other accused involved in this case and other similar frauds,” the investigating agency said, urging others who might have been cheated by the accused to come forward with complaints.
