Fake RAW Officer Arrested In Rs 1.17 Crore Odisha Govt Work Orders Fraud

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Bhubaneswar, has arrested a third accused in the Rs 1.17 crore fraud case, involving a Delhi-based businessman.

According to an official release, the accused, identified as Rajesh Kumar alias Rajesh Gahlot, was apprehended from Sector-23, Dwaraka, on December 18. On Sunday, he was produced before the Metropolitan Magistrate, Dwaraka-10, which allowed him five days of transit bail with direction to appear before the SDJM, Bhubaneswar, on or before December 24.

The complainant, Rikab Chand Munot, proprietor of M/s Rashtriya Stainless Steel, had alleged that Surya Mani Tripathy, Amit Kumar, who were arrested in October, and Rajesh Gahlot impersonated themselves as the officers of IAS, PWD and RAW, respectively, and duped him and his son Akshay Munot of Rs 1.17 crore with the help of another lady, who posed as treasury officer, on the pretext of facilitating big government contracts for them in Works Department, Odisha.

“The businessman and his son were promised high-value government contracts/work orders under Pradhan Mantri Yojana in Odisha,” the release said.

During the investigation, it was found that the accused created a series of fake documents like work orders purportedly issued by O/o EIC (Civil), Nirman Soudha, Bhubaneswar, and notarised fake agreements with Rashtriya Stainless Steel. They handed over fake/manufactured work orders having a contract value of crores.

Notably, Mukesh has a branch office of Rashtriya Stainless Steel at Kalinganagar, Bhubaneswar. His son came in contact with Rajesh through a friend in 2017. Rajesh introduced himself as an officer of RAW having many IAS officers in Odisha as his friends.

He subsequently introduced Mukesh and Akshay to accused Suryamani at Odisha Niwas, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, as an IAS officer, posted as Additional Secretary to Government of Odisha in PWD. They assured Mukesh and his son to help them in getting high-value government work orders in Odisha.

EOW found that accused Suryamani was a clerk in the office of DTET (Directorate of Technical Education & Training), Cuttack, whereas Amit was unemployed. Fake work orders/agreements/treasury receipts were seized. It is suspected that they might have cheated many other persons too.

They used to use the Odisha Niwas, New Delhi, to make any deal to impress/gain the trust of Mukesh. Also, Suryamani has saved the mobile numbers of senior IAS/ IPS/OAS officers/Judges to impress Mukesh/another party.