Kendrapada: The attempt of a debt-ridden man in Odisha’s Kendrapada district to fake his own death to fox his lenders and get Rs 6 lakh compensation from the forest department came to a naught as he was traced and brought back to his village within 24 hours.
On Saturday morning, 47-year-old Bikrant Mallick of Andara village under Pattamundai police limits left his belongings on the Brahmani riverbank to create a make-believe scene of having been dragged in by a crocodile. Forest officials, villagers and fire and rescue services personnel launched a search operation but could not find his body.
He was traced in Cuttack the following day as police busted his elaborate plan following a thorough investigation aided by CCTV footage from a shop near Andara village and the location of his mobile phone. “We tracked him in Cuttack and asked him to come to the police station. We are interrogating him and his family members. Action will be initiated after due inquiry,” said Pattamundai police station IIC Ranjit Mohanty.
Chittaranjan Mallick, a villager, told the media that Bikrant worked as a daily wager in Punjab and had returned to the village last week. “He had borrowed money from some villagers and they began to press him to repay the debts following which Bikrant went missing from near the river to help his wife get the compensation amount from the forest department and clear the loans,” he added..
Divisional forest officer Sudrashan Gopinath Yadav said that that they had previously received false compensation claims related to crocodile attacks, and a thorough inquiry will be conducted in this case too.
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