Rs 1.17 Crore Cheating Case: Two Arrested In Odisha For Impersonating As IAS, PWD Officers

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) here has arrested two persons on charges of impersonating Odisha government officials in a Rs 1.17 crore cheating case.

The EOW arrested Suryamani Tripathy and Amit Kumar from Cuttack and Bhubaneswar respectively.

The arrests were made following a complaint filed by Mukesh Jain of Rashtriya Stainless Steel in New Delhi.

According to the complaint, one Rajesh Gahlot, Tripathy and Kumar impersonated themselves as officers of RAW, IAS and PWD respectively to cheat the complainant and his son of Rs 1.17 crore. The trio was helped by a woman who impersonated as a treasury officer.

The accused promised the complainant of arranging and facilitating big government contracts for them in the Works Department.

According to the EOW, the complainant had come in contact with Gahlot in 2017. He had introduced himself as a RAW officer and that many IAS officers in Odisha were his friends. Gahlot subsequently introduced the complainant and his son to Tripathy at Odisha Niwas in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi.

Tripathy claimed he was an Additional Secretary in the PWD Department in Odisha. Kumar was later introduced to them as an engineer in the PWD Department.

The EOW has seized fake work orders, agreements and treasury receipts from them. According to the agency, they are probing if they have cheated other persons also. The accused used to visit Odisha Niwas to befriend people who they could target.