Businessman duped of Rs 1.5 lakh using ‘magic pen’

Bhubaneswar: A businessman was allegedly duped of Rs 1.5 lakh by a youth using a ‘magic pen’ with invisible ink in Laxmi Sagar area here on Friday.

As per reports, the alleged fraudster called up the owner of Jagannath Graphics Ranjan Malla by impersonating himself as a bank manager and told him that he (Malla) could get a loan of Rs 10 lakh as his business is doing well.

Later, the accused asked Malla to submit a ‘cancelled’ cheque of Rs 1.5 lakh to him to get the loan. After Malla filled up the cheque, the fraudster gave his pen to him to write ‘cancelled’ in red ink.

However, as per the allegation, the 'cancelled' signature in the red ink disappeared after a while and the accused encashed the cheque.

“When I checked with the bank, they informed me that there was no mention of ‘cancelled’ in red ink. Besides, the fraudster had mentioned his name as Pradipta Banerjee and submitted a PAN card as identity proof to encash the cheque bearing my signature,” Malla stated.

Meanwhile, Malla has lodged a complaint with the police with the Laxmi Sagar police.