The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch on Sunday arrested two persons on the charge of committing a Rs 3-crore fraud by impersonating as Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) officials.
The mastermind was identified as Chandan Akash Mohanty, who was a contractual Assistant Engineer in OTDC, Bhubaneswar, while the other conspirator is Bijayananda Choudhury alias Swami Bijayanandaji Maharaj, a self-proclaimed Baba, said EOW Bhubaneswar SP Gagarin Mohanty.The duo was arrested on the basis of a complaint filed by an OTDC official. Chandan had cheated a special class contractor, Dhanurdhara Champatiray by issuing fake work orders. Said Mohnaty. The accused also allegedly collected huge amounts of money from the contractor towards projected Earnest Money Deposit(EOW) against the work orders.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the contractor Champatiray was in search of work order during Covid-19 pandemic.In May, he along with his relative visited the accused self-styled Godman Bijayanandaji Maharaj at his residence in Cuttack.
Posing himself as the Chairman of OTDC Ltd and Member of ITDC Ltd, the Baba also introduced Champatiray with accused Chandan Akash Mohanty. Both the Baba and Chandan promised to provide work order to Champatiray in respect of works from OTDC Ltd and instructed him to deposit money towards EMD in the personal account of Chandan. "During the period from August to November, 2020, Chandan had handed over 23 numbers of work orders for repair and renovation of Pantha Nivas at Barkul and Rambha, issued using forged seal and signature of Executive Engineer, OTDC Ltd, Bhubaneswar. Chandan managed to extract Rs. 3 crore (approximately) from the contractor in various phased, towards the EMD,” the EOW said.
Out of the Rs 3 crore, about Rs. 1.14 crore was deposited in the personal account of Chandan in Andhra Bank, Lewis Road branch in Bhubaneswar.
“All those work orders are found to be fake and prepared by using forged signature and seal and not issued from OTDC Ltd. It has been ascertained that out of the above a huge amount of money has been paid to accused Baba Bijayananda Choudhury by Chandan,” the EOW said. The investigating agency is trying to ascertain the involvement of others including that of OTDC officials in the racket.