Bhubaneswar: A building contractor was arrested by the Nandanakanan police on charges of cheating a resident of Raghunathpur in Bhubaneswar on Sunday. Simanchala Choudhury had allegedly taken Rs 2,75,000 from complainant Santunu Kumar Dash to build a prefabricated structure at the latter’s farmhouse and then disappeared.
On December 16, 2020, Dash lodged a police complaint in which he said that he had a farmhouse at Khajuribani in Keonjhar and wanted to get a prefabricated structure built there. He placed an advertisement, seeking quotations. Several contractors responded and Choudhury was one of them.
Choudhury is apparently the owner of ‘Shreya Engineering’ that operates from Plot No. N-4/32, IRC Village, Nayapalli, Bhubaneswar. Dash spoke to him over the phone regarding the work at his farmhouse. Choudhury then apparently sent him a quotation of Rs 4,06,250. Dash agreed and forwarded an advance of Rs 1,50,000 to his bank account. He sent a second instalment of Rs 1,25,000 on November 7, 2020.
“Thereafter the complainant found Choudhury’s phone switched off. He even went to the Nayapalli office to find it locked. Dash came to know that the office was not functioning for a month. Choudhury had not started any work at his farmhouse either. This is when he lodged the police complaint,” an official said.
After a long search that lasted over four years, Choudhury was finally arrested and produced before a court. He is a resident of Nine Grand Avenue, under the Khandagiri police station area of Bhubaneswar.
