Shocking crimes to fraudsters' new methods to dupe people that remained in limelight in 2024 in Odisha

The year 2024 will go down the pages of history with several incidents of crimes reported from various parts of Odisha that not only shook the conscience but also raised questions as to where the so called civilised society is heading.

Be it the shocking incident of alleged gang-rape of a college girl student in Cuttack or a woman in Bhubaneswar, Odisha witnessed a number of crimes in 2024 and the memories of such horrific incidents are still fresh in the minds of people in 2025.

Amidst the number of crimes and series of burglary incidents, one incident that became the talk of the town was the brutal murder of an elderly man by his own son in Bhubaneswar.

The accused, who was formerly a law professor, stabbed his father to death in the month of July. The brutal murder took place only because the victim refused to lend his son money to clear debts.

Senior police officials informed that the accused Anirudha Choudhury was under severe mental stress due to multiple reasons.

Cyber Fraudsters' New Methods to Dupe People

Apart from such shocking incidents, Odisha also saw new methods adopted by miscreants, especially cyber fraudsters to dupe people.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Bhubaneswar was instrumental in busting a major racket involved in Pan India courier fraud. The scam involved blackmailing individuals by impersonating NCB, CBI and RBI officials.

The accused, identified as Rajat Kumar of Haryana, was nabbed from Himachal Pradesh on February 4.

The Commissionerate Police busted a racket in which fraudsters had duped around Rs 36 lakh from a person in Bhubaneswar in a fake courier scam.

Five accused were arrested on June 16 on the charges of duping a government official by claiming that drugs were sent to Taiwan in his name using his credentials.

During the investigation, it was found that the criminals were involved in such fraud in 24 states and 313 cases reported so far. Moreover, 49 cases have been registered in Karnataka, 32 in Tamil Nadu, and 38 in Telangana. Later, police officials of 9 states interrogated the accused who were arrested by the Commissionerate Police.

Senior police officials informed that be it cyber crime or any other fraud, mule bank accounts are being used to either divert or withdraw money from various proceeds.

The Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Police had busted one such mule bank accounts racket by arresting as many as five accused.

Also Read: Mule bank account racket: Odisha STF nabs 1 more inter-state accused from West Bengal

The mule bank accounts racket mainly operates in the tri-junction area of Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal. The racket is active in the districts of Balasore, Mayurbhanj, East Midnapore, West Midnapore, East Sighbhoom, West Singhbhoom and Saraikela.