Bhubaneswar: Stepping up the probe in a Rs 40 crore fraud case, Bhubaneswar Police detained a couple from Aska in Ganjam for allegedly cheating around 100 people after promising them to give new cars at 50 per cent discount.
The accused have been identified as Akshay Gouda and his wife Usharani Gouda who were allegedly running a used car showroom named Maa Pattakhanda Automobiles in Bhubaneswar.
According to reports, the two advertised on social media platforms and offered new cars at a 50 per cent discount on the market price. People who contacted them were shown fake agreements with several car showrooms in Bhubaneswar to sell their cars under clearance sale.
The two asked customers to deposit a token amount of Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 as advance to get cars at half price of the market rate. Initially, they gave new cars to some customers with heavy discount to build confidence among buyers. However, they fled by duping people of over Rs 40 crore in the market.
A complainant claimed that he had paid Rs 10 lakh for an SUV as some of his colleagues had got their cars from the couple. Though they promised delivery in a month, the two gradually started to avoid him and finally disappeared, he claimed.
The couple had another accomplice, identified as Sivaran Gouda. Efforts are on to trace him.
The victims of the fraud have lodged several complaints at Pahala, Nayapalli, Khandagiri, Laxmisagar, Badagada and Capital police stations in the state capital, sources said.
