Two couples arrested for cheating 11 job seekers in Odisha

Berhampur(Odisha), Jan 15 (PTI) Two couples were arrested by Odisha police for allegedly cheating at least 11 job seekers of over Rs 11.70 lakh in Ganjam district under the pretext of getting them jobs in a company at Bhubaneswar, police said on Wednesday.

The arrested couples identified as Ganesh Nayak (42), his wife Tapaswini Singh (40) of Nilagiri area in Baleswar district and Bipin Patra (35) and his wife Bijuli Patra (32) of Patharabandh village near Bhubaneswar. They were staying in rented houses in Ganjam district’s Hinjili area, said the police.

According to police, Ganesh was the mastermind of the cheating case, and was also allegedly involved in some other criminal cases in Bhubaneswar.

“We are also verifying the record of criminal activities of Ganesh and other accused persons in other police stations,” said inspector in charge, Hinjili police station, Srinibash Sethi.

Police said Ganesh had taken Rs 2 lakh from one Bulu Jena of Hinjili area to sell a land located at Berhampur to him about a year ago. Bulu who has a grocery shop in Salia Sahi in Bhubaneswar, has come in contact with Ganesh and his friend Bipin, while they were staying in Salia Sahi, a slum in Bhubaneswar.

Families of Ganesh and Bipin shifted to Hinjili about eight months ago and stayed at Kanjiama in rented houses. During their stay at Hinjili, they also allegedly cheated at least 11 job seekers to provide jobs in a company in Bhubaneswar. The couples had taken from Rs 45,000 to over Rs 3.50 lakh from each of the victims on different dates, he said.

As the victims did not get a job, they demanded to return of their money from the couples several times, while they urged them to wait for some more days. The victims, however, caught them on Sunday, when they were planning to flee from Hinjili. They handed over them to the police and lodged an FIR against them. The police took them into custody on Monday.

“We have registered a cheating case against the couples and started an investigation. Preliminary investigation has revealed the couples had duped Rs 11.70 lakh from 11 persons,” said Sethi.