Cyber crime: 3 including transgender held for duping businessmen in Bhubaneswar

The State cyber police has arrested a transgender on the charges of duping businessmen in the guise of a personal assistant (PA) of a politician. He has allegedly amassed money to the tune of Rs 1.5 lakh by cheating businessmen.

The accused transgender, identified Manisha alias Soumya Ranjan Pradhan, is a diploma holder. As many as eight cases have been registered against Soumya Ranjan in different police stations across the state. 

Sanjeev Satpathy, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) of Zone 5, in conversation with OTV disclosed the accused’s modus operandi. 

Satpathy said, “Soumya Ranjan is a habitual offender. Earlier, he was also arrested on the same charges. He used to collect phone number of different businessmen and rang them introducing himself as PA of a politician. He used to say businessmen that ‘the concerned politician is oraganising a havan for which he needs money to buy some essential commodities. As the politician remains occupied in different welfare work, his mother would like to talk to you in this connection.’ Then after some time, Soumya Ranjan used to call that businessman and started conversation as the politician’s mother. In this way, he easily won the confidence of three businessmen and duped them to the tune of Rs 1.5 lakh.”

“The fraud came to light after the businessmen verified Soumya Ranjan’s authenticity and realised that they were cheated. They subsequently filed a complaint with the Cyber Police,” maintained Satpathy.

He went on to add: “People now-a-days adopt new ideas on WhatsApp and Facebook to con people. People should not get easily trapped by them. They should remain alert always.” 

Police have also reportedly arrested two aides of Soumya Ranjan- Tusharkanti Bai and Sunil Samantray.

Reported by Alok Mohanty,OTV