Baripada: Three persons, including a teacher and an engineer, were arrested by the police in Khunta area of Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district for allegedly impersonating a senior IAS officer and cheating innocent job seekers.
Police sources said that the accused had allegedly duped at least 15 persons of more than Rs 20 lakh by promising them government jobs.
The three included Manoj Acharya, an assistant teacher at Bairatpur School in Udala. Acharya is believed to be the mastermind behind the deceitful scheme.
Acharya’s accomplices, Dilip Jena, an engineer, and Lohitash Jena, a resident of Kalikapur in Baripada, have also been accused of involvement in the scam.
The victims, who were desperately looking for jobs, were convinced by the accused that they had connections with a senior IAS officer and could secure them government jobs in exchange for a hefty sum.
The fraud came to light when an Assistant Block Education Officer (ABEO) Brundaban Marandi filed a complaint against Acharya accusing him of taking Rs 1.30 lakh from his nephew on the pretext of giving him a job. Acharya reportedly demanded an additional Rs 40,000 after the job was supposedly secured.
However, Acharya refused to return the money after being unable to give job, the BEO filed a complaint against him at the Khunta police station.
