A woman, Anita Hembram, has alleged that BJP Jharsguda district president Mangal Sahoo duped her of Rs 1.5 lakh on pretext of arranging a job for her son. When he failed to provide a job, Anita contacted him and he promised to return the money by December 2020. Till date, neither Sahoo has arranged job or returned the money. But when she pressurised him to return amount, he threatened her, she alleged in a petition to the district Superintendent of Police.
A resident of Brajrajnagar in the district, Anita is presently staying in her in-laws’ house at Titilaagarh in Balangir district. She had given the money to Sahoo in March 2020 to arrange a job for her son.
However, the Jharsuguda police are yet to register a case against Sahoo, but Jharsuguda SP Bikash Das has asked SDPO Nirmal Mohapatra to conduct a probe into the allegations and submit a report. Sahoo has refuted the allegations saying this is a conspiracy by his political opponents to defame him. He has neither taken any money from anyone nor made any promise, he claimed.