Bhubaneswar: A local court here has ordered the release of a frozen sum of Rs 20 lakh in favour of a person who slipped into coma after learning that he had been duped of a large sum of money by fraudsters.
The case relates to a fraud in which, the vicitm Tapan Kumar Mohanty, who was convinced by impersonators that he could buy Hotel Nilachal Ashok in Puri, a property belonging to ITDC, located close to the Raj Bhavan in the pilgrim town. He was defreauded subsequently.
The Court of SDJM Bhubaneswar ordered the release of frozen amount of Rs 20 lakh in favour of victim’s wife Bijayini Mohanty in this case.
Mohanty, a wholesale seller of eggs and chicken, was duped by Anikesh Sahu, impersonating as a contractor for different ITDC projects; Chandan Akash Mohanty, who was introduced as a senior ITDC official; and Bikash Moharana, another fraudster.
All the three have been arrested by the Economic Offences Wing of the Crime Branch, said DIG (CID-CB) JN Pankaj. In 2020, these fraudsters had met Mohanty through a common friend and persuaded him to purchase ITDC’s Nilachal Ashok Hotel for a sum of Rs 15 crore, including a commission of Rs 3 crore.
In February 2020, the impersonators “formally” executed an agreement with him in different official capacities. Subsequently, they collected more than Rs 50 lakh from Mohanty through a bank account as well as in cash. In order to win his trust, they made him deposit Rs 20 lakh in ITDC’s official account at Delhi, but took Rs 30 lakh in cash, Pankaj said.
“Subsequently, upon verification Mohanty realised that he had been cheated. He suffered a brain stroke out of shock and is now bed-ridden, suffering from paralysis, and loss of speech speech and memory. The victim’s wife, Bijayini Mohanty, filed a complaint with the EOW on the fraud,” the DIG said.
“Arrest of the accused is common but the victim actually getting back the money in these types of cases is rare while trial is yet to completed. We followed up meticulously in court so that the victim got his money back. Victim being in a “vegetative state” made this case special to us,” Pankaj added.
