A man has been arrested for allegedly posing as a Regional Transport Officer (RTO) and duping vehicle drivers on pretext of collecting fine on the national highway in Bargarh district on Tuesday.
The accused has been identified as Vikram Behera.
“He had been defrauding the vehicle owners on the highway for over a month in the area” said Arun Kumar Sahu, Motor Vehicle Inspection (MVI) office.
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Explaining Vikram's modus of operandi, Sahu said “On the highway, the defendant used his bike to stop vehicles first and introduce himself as a RTO officer. Then he inquire about the owner's contact information. After obtaining the owner's phone number, he threatens them on call with either making a PhonePe payment for the challan amount or generating a Vehicle Check Report (VCR) against the vehicle registration number.”
The incident was brought to light after a truck driver named Sailesh Ram met the genuine RTO Officer on his way after being deceived by Vikram. Sailesh detailed him about being robbed by the fake RTO officer Vikram at gunpoint.
The police were then informed about the truck driver’s story. A team immediately reached the spot.
They tricked Vikram by summoning him to a location to collect the remaining fine amount of Sailesh. Vikram fell in the trap and was nabbed by the officers.
Police have seized the gun from his possession.
Vikram has been impersonating police and RTO officers and defrauding people on several occasions, said report.