Odisha businessman duped of Rs.2.35 crore, one arrested

Bhubaneswar: A suspected fraudster has been arrested for allegedly duping a businessman in Odisha's Keonjhar district of over Rs 2 crore after impersonating as a government official, police said.

The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Police said Himanshu Bhandari was a member of a gang that was involved in many cases of fraud, forging documents and impersonating as senior government and RBI officials.

Bhandari, who was arrested from Uttar Pradesh last week, had contacted Pramod Rout in October 2019, in the guise of a Ministry of Finance official, a release stated on Sunday.

The resident of Joda town was told that his insurance policy was selected under the PM National Relief Fund and the Union government would release Rs 3 crore to his account, according to the EOW.

Subsequently, Rout received



a fake letter on WhatsApp from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, which instructed him to clear some dues. He kept on receiving calls from different numbers and the callers warned him of freezing his accounts if he did not pay the dues.

They persuaded him to transfer money in several bank accounts through the RTGS (real-time gross settlement). Rout had sent around Rs 2.35 crore in instalments from November 2019 to February 2021.

When no amount was credited, the complainant started contacting those who called him, but found all the mobile numbers to be switched off, the EOW said.

Bhandari was arrested from Noida in Uttar Pradesh last week and brought on transit remand to Odisha. Efforts are on to identify and arrest other members of the gang, it added.