The police on Tuesday arrested former Air Odisha director Santosh Pani on the charge of defrauding some businessmen lakhs of rupees.
Earlier, complaints were lodged with the Khandagiri police by Sandeep Ray, son of BJP leader Dilip Ray, and Khemji Jewellers director Mitesh Khemji against Pani. later, a non-bailable warrant was issued against him.
Sandeep had alleged that Pani cheated him of `40 lakh. Similarly, Khemji alleged that he was duped of `1.5 crore by Pani.
Air Odisha, which was operating flights to four cities of the State from the airport here, was mired in controversies with complaints filed by a number of investors against the management.
On May 3, 2016, Steven Nixon, an executive of Dublin-based ITCl Ireland, had lodged a complaint with the State Government against Air Odisha alleging monetary fraud by the air service operator. Nixon had claimed that AOA had obtained aircraft on contract from the company and `2.5 crore is due to them.