A conman from Odisha allegedly duped more than 20 businessmen across the country to the tune of Rs 200 crore by luring them to provide franchises for electric vehicle showrooms.
The fraudster has been identified as Prabhat Kumar Nahak from Koraput district.
As per reports, the fraudster impersonating as an official of different electric vehicle brands, convinced different businessmen from Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to provide them franchises for selling the products. Prabhat then asked them to deposit some amount into an account towards dealer registration charges.
However, no dealerships were awarded after three years following the transfer of the money. The businessmen could neither get electric vehicles to sale, nor could they get back their money. Then they realised that they have been duped by the fraudster.
Subsequently, the helpless businessmen lodged a complaint in the Economic Offence Wing in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday.
“I have been duped to the tune of Rs 30 lakh by the conman from Odisha. I had transferred the payment to him in September 2021. However, I have not got the electric vehicles yet,” said Lokesh Bhandari, a businessman from Uttar Pradesh.
“We had lodged the complaint in the Economic Offence Wing in Bhubaneswar and are hopeful that the fraudster will be arrested and we will get back our money,” he said.