It is a story of a 'bad egg' and an egg dealer. The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Odisha Crime Branch has arrested one Chandan Akash Mohanty, ex-contractual Assistant Engineer in OTDC, Bhubaneswar, who masquerading as a senior officer of ITDC entered into a fake sale deed with Tapan Kumar Mohanty, an egg whole seller.
As per EOW, a probe revealed that the accused along with another person, who impersonated himself as a clerk of ITDC, has made a false sale deed with Tapan Mohanty for Hotel Nilachal Ashok, ITDC at Puri.
Sources said, Chandan A Mohanty, with a Pseudonym Anikesh Sahu, along with an accomplice (a fake ITDC clerk), had introduced himself as a contractor working at different projects under ITDC to Tapan Mohanty through a common friend and convinced him to purchase Nilachal Ashok Hotel of ITDC in Puri for an amount of Rs 15 crores, including 3 crores as an under-hand deal.
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The accused had already collected more than Rs 50 lakh from Tapan through a bank account as well as in cash.
In order to win the trust, the accused first asked him to deposit Rs 20 lakh in the official account of ITDC maintained at Delhi, but took Rs 30 lakhs in cash in order to push the matter.
However, when the egg trader did not get any communication from ITDC Ltd., he smelt rat and filed a complaint with the Police.
Tapan later suffered a brain stroke and is now bedridden with paralysis. He has lost his speech and memory. His wife has filed the complaint.
Significantly, the fraudster Chandan Akash Mohanty was earlier arrested in another case with a similar modus operandi.
In the earlier case, he duped a Special Class Contractor by posing himself as an OTDC Official and issued fake work orders purportedly in the name of OTDC.