Bhubaneswar: The Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Police have arrested the mastermind of an alleged cheating and impersonation racket being run by fake RTI activists.
The accused has been identified as Kanhu Charan Pradhan.
It followed the arrest of a fake RTI activist, Kishore Mishra, on August 18 on the basis of a complaint filed at Koraput Town police station on April 25. He along with some others used to work in close association with the main accused. “A resident of Tangi in Khurda district, Pradhan stays in Bhubaneswar. He is a graduate. Earlier, he ran a liquor shop,” an official release said.
During investigation, the STF came across four more cases registered against Pradhan, who allegedly duped people by impersonating top officers in government departments. The victims had saved his phone number as secretary or additional secretary.
He had allegedly fled to Thailand and returned to Odisha recently. Expensive mobile phones, forged government notification/orders and other incriminating documents were also seized from his possession.
The group had been cheating and extorting money from people by promising them crusher licence, liquor licence and transfer/posting, citing contacts with senior officers, for the last 2-3 years. Bank accounts of Kishore also showed credit of more than Rs 2 crore in last 2- 3 years.
Also Read: Fake RTI Activist Arrested For Cheating & Impersonation In Odisha
It is suspected that the group had published some fake job advertisement in newspapers. They also used some mule bank accounts, including those of dead persons, the release added.
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