Bhubaneswar: The Crime Branch (CB) of Odisha Police on Monday started investigation into cheating of a complainant by the mastermind of the fake certificate racket Manoj Mishra and his aide Alok Udgata in Odisha’s Balangir district.
Complainant Rajat Kumar Naik of Chandotara under Sindhekela police station had alleged that Manoj and Alok of Reliance Educational Complex, a coaching institution, had duped him of more than Rs 5 lakh.
Rajat came in contact with the accused in 2015. On being enticed by them, he paid Rs 5 lakh to the accused duo in instalments for a job in February. They asked him to apply for Gramin Dak Sevak (GDS) and subsequently offered him a Class X certificate of Madhyamik Sikshya Parishad in Uttar Pradesh for the purpose. Later, Rajat came to know that the certificate was fake and lodged the complaint.
The Crime Branch had earlier begun probe into a fake certificate case registered against Manoj, Alok and several others at Balangir Town police station. The investigation began following the written report of Rajendra Kumar Pattanayak, Superintendent of Post Offices, Balangir Division alleging that during document verification for appointment to the post of GDS, 38 aspirants out of 60 aspirants had submitted 10th certificate obtain from the Madhyamika Sikshya Parishad, UP which are believed to be fake.
During investigation, it was found that the crime was being operated from Reliance Educational Complex at Patnagarh Road in Balangir. So far, 19 persons including Manoj and Alok have been arrested and forwarded to the court.
The police have seized Rs 3.67 lakh, four computers, one laptop, three printers, a scanner machine, a Xerox machine, two mobile phones and fake rubber stamps of 33 educational institutions across the country from the accused persons, a release of Crime Branch stated.
A 5-member CB team including cyber experts led by Debabrata Chakra, OYSP is camping at Balangir and pursuing the investigation of both cases.
