Odisha EOW Arrests Fraudster Who Duped Businessman By Posing As RAW Officer

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha police have arrested another person who had duped a businessman to the tune of over Rs 1 crore, by posing as a Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) official, from New Delhi.

EOW officials said on Monday that Rajesh Gahlot was arrested from Dwarka in New Delhi on December 18. The EOW obtained Gahlot’s five-day transit bail from the court of the Metropolitan Magistrate, Dwaraka-10 with direction to appear before the SDJM Bhubaneswar on or before December 24, 2021.

Earlier, the EOW had arrested two more persons-Suryamani Triapathy and Amit Kumar- in connection with the fraud. It was alleged that the accused had posed as IAS, PWD officers to cheat the unsuspecting victims.

Gahlot, police said, had cheated one Rikab Chand Munot alias Mukesh Jain, the proprietor of M/s Rashtriya Stainless Steel, Jindal House, Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi. In a written complaint, the victim had alleged that the accused along with the help of a woman, who impersonated as a Treasury Officer, had duped him and his son to the tune of Rs.1.17 crore on the pretext of facilitating big work orders/ contracts in Works Department, Odisha.

During investigation, EOW found that the three accused-Suryamani Triapathy, Rajesh Gahlot and Amit Kumar entered into a criminal conspiracy and created a series of fake documents including work orders purportedly issued by O/o EIC (Civil), Nirman Soudha, Bhubaneswar.

They also created fake agreements with the complainant’s Rashtriya Stainless Steel. In a release, EOW said that the accused persons handed over fake/ manufactured work orders having contract value of Rs. 32.52 crore and Rs.47.52 crore, respectively to the complainant and in that process had cheated Rs. 1.17 crores from him.