Bhubaneswar: The Tomando police in the capital city on Tuesday arrested a woman and three others for allegedly duping a doctor of Rs 1 lakh in Bhubaneswar.
The four arrested have been identified as Bapi alias Nishikant Patra (33); Irani Patra (27), wife of Nishikant; Ganesh alias Manoranjan Pradhan (30); and Girija alias Saktikant Harichandan (36).
According to reports, Irani Patra called a doctor on September 8 to her rented house saying that she needed emergency medical help. The complainant doctor said he believed the woman’s words as he knew her as a patient when he was posted at Madhuban PHC.
After the doctor entered the house around 11:00 pm, the four accused suddenly locked the main door confining the victim in a room. The accused allegedly demanded that the doctor pay them Rs 25 lakh at knifepoint and also assaulted him physically. The four accused threatened the doctor with dire consequences if he failed to pay the amount and warned that the woman would file a false case of molestation against him.
With no other option left, the doctor agreed to pay Rs 10 lakh and shared the password of his PhonePe payment gateway with the accused, who transferred Rs 1 lakh from the doctor’s account. As the limit of PhonePe transfer is 1 lakh, Irani and Nishikant forced the doctor to write a cheque worth Rs 9 lakh in favour of the former.
On being released from the clutches of the accused, the doctor registered a complaint with Tamando police on Monday. Acting on the complaint, the police registered a case (No-233, dated 11.09.2023 under Section 342/365/385/386/387/389/394/120-B IPC and launched a probe.
So far, the police have seized Rs 30,000 cash, a knife, two mobile phones, and a cheque worth Rs 9 lakh issued in favour of Irani Patra from the possession of the accused.
During the investigation, it was ascertained that the accused committed similar offences with two other persons in the past but these were not reported to the police.
