Two persons of Space Value, a city-based real estate marketing firm, have been arrested by the Commissionerate Police for duping an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supporter of Rs 3 lakh. The main accused is absconding, said the police sources.  

Bidyadhar Sethi of Bhuban in Dhenkanal district was cheated by Manoj Kumar Mohanty, who runs Space Value, said AAP State executive body member Dhanada Kanta Mishra at a Press meet here on Thursday. Mohanty had a contract to market real estate products of one Mahima Builders, Mishra added.

The arrested persons were Santosh Kumar Rout (33) and Raj Kishore Behera (32), working as director and managing director of Space Value, respectively. According to Sethi, company chief Mohanty had promised him a loan of Rs 6 lakh presumably to buy property. Mohanty took his papers and deposited a cheque for this amount with no money in the account.

Believing Mohanty’s words, Sethi had returned Rs 3 lakh in cash. But when he checked his account after a few days, there was no money in his account and the cheque bounced. When Sethi knew about the cheating, he asked Mohanty to return his money. Mohanty didn’t pay heed to Sethi’s demands and did not answer his calls.   later, with the help of AAP supporters, Sethi managed to call two employees of Mohanty’s firm and handed them over to the Saheed Nagar police.

The police have started investigation into the matter after registering a case against the culprits. Efforts are on to nab Mohanty, who is also the company’s branch manager of Mahima Builders, said police sources.