EOW Arrests Engineer & Godman In Rs 3-Crore Fraud Case In Bhubaneswar & Cuttack

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch arrested a BTech engineer and a Godman in the city on the charge of cheating a contractor of Rs 3 crore and forwarded them to court on Sunday.

The EOW made the arrest following investigation into a complaint filed by an official of Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) on the basis of the allegation of Dhanurdhara Champatiray, a Special Class contractor.

According to the complaint, Champatiray was in search of work orders during COVID pandemic. In May, 2020, he met Bijayananda Choudhury alias Swami Bijayanandaji Maharaj, the the self-proclaimed Baba at his residence in CDA, Cuttack. Baba introduced himself as the Chairman of OTDC Ltd and member of ITDC Ltd. He also introduced the BTech engineer Chandan Akash Mohanty as Assistant Engineer of OTDC.

The EOW investigation revealed that Chandan was working as Assistant Engineer of OTDC on contractual basis till May 31, 2019 and not thereafter.

During their interaction, Baba and Chandan promised to provide work order to Champatiray from OTDC and instructed him to deposit various amounts towards EMD in the personal account of Chandan. Between August, 2020 and November, 2020, Chandan handed over 23 work orders for repair and renovation of Pantha Nivas at Barkul and Rambha, purportedly issued under the seal and signature of Executive Engineer, OTDC Ltd, Bhubaneswar and managed to get Rs 3 crore from Champatiray towards purported EMD.

Out of the paid amount, about Rs 1.14 crore has been deposited in the personal account of Chandan in Andhra Bank, Lewis Road branch, Bhubaneswar. All those work orders have been found fake and manufactured by using forged signature and seal. The EOW has also ascertained that a huge amount has been paid to accused Baba.

The EOW officials arrested Chandan from his residence at Nayapalli in Bhubaneswar and the Baba from CDA in Cuttack.