Man Held For Duping Job Seekers In Odisha Of Over Rs 59 Lakh By Posing As Union Minister’s PA

Cuttack: Cyber Police in Cuttack has arrested a man for duping several youths of more than Rs 59 lakh on the plea of giving them jobs in Indian Railways and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL).

The Cyber Police, in a release on Saturday, stated that the youth, identified as Santosh Mahuri alias Santosh Mohanty of Balaram Nagar under Baliapal police station in Balasore district, was arrested following investigation into a complaint filed by Narendra Singh of Brahmanigaon, Trisulia under Baranga police limits in Cuttack on November 8.

The complainant in his written report stated that Santosh had used to go from Trisulia to the residence of Hanuman Baba (Chintamani Parida) at Darkhapatna. Santosh had introduced himself as PA of a Union Minister and nephew of former minister Raghunath Mohanty.

In April, Santosh told Hanuman Baba that he could give jobs to his son and relatives in Indian Railways and IOCL. Hanuman Baba introduced him to the people close to him and explained about the jobs that Santosh had promised.

Without doubting the ulterior motive of Santosh, all the victims transferred total Rs 59,25,100 to the account provided by him through multiple transactions. After receiving the money, Santosh sent a fake selection Railway list to one of the victims and assured them that they would receive the appointment letters soon.

As the victims did not receive any appointment letter, they tried to contact Santosh over phone. But he did not receive the phone calls of anyone and switched off his mobile phone. Following this, Narendra filed the complaint with the Cyber Police.

During investigation of the case, the police ascertained that Santosh had introduced himself with different identities like PA to Minister, Defense personnel, DRDO employee to different victims and claimed his
influence at high-level to persuade them provide jobs in government and private sectors.

The police have seized a laptop, 8 mobile phones of different models, 13 SIM cards, one hard drive, two Pendrives,
5 passbooks of different banks, 5 cheque books, 18 debit cards, two PAN cards and one Aadhaar card, one ID card of Indian Air Force and two fake certificates as member of DRDO and of Vigilance department from the possession of Santosh.