Berhampur: Odisha Police have arrested a former executive engineer of Berhampur Municipal Corporation for allegedly defrauding two individuals, including an NRI, of approximately Rs 35 lakh by promising to sell housing plots in Berhampur.
The arrested has been identified as Pattam Shyamababu Patro. The 58-year-old, who took voluntary retirement in 2019, was apprehended in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.
According to sources, he allegedly cheated a woman from Gandhi Nagar in Berhampur of Rs 10 lakh and an Australian-based NRI of Rs 25 lakh through fake land sale agreements. Police have seized documents, including a land sale agreement and a Rs 10 lakh bank cheque, from Patro.
Berhampur SP Saravana Vivek M said that the accused entered into an agreement with the woman on March 30, 2016, to sell 0.590 decimal of land near Lochapada for Rs 71 lakh and received Rs 25 lakh as an advance. When Patro failed to deliver the land, the woman sought her money back, only to be abused and intimidated by him. He returned only Rs 15 lakh in 2021 after she threatened to file a police complaint.
He allegedly defrauded the NRI in a similar manner.
Two cases have been filed against him at Berhampur Town and Gosaninuagaon police stations based on the victims’ complaints.
