Realtor arrested for duping 250 in Odisha capital of Rs 15 cr

Reported by Santosh Jagdev

Bhubaneswar, Mar 16:

The Odisha Crime Branch (CB) today arrested  the managing director (MD) of a real estate company for allegedly cheating 250 people in Khordha district of at least Rs 15 crores after promising them prime land with patta on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar city.

The accused, identified as Gayadhar Jena (48), MD of Sarala Realcon Private Limited, was arrested by CB officials during a surprise raid conducted by them at his office located at Jayadurga Nagar under Laxmisagar police limits today. The company also has offices in Khordha, Patia and Jharpada in the city.

CB officials said Jena had defrauded around 250 people in the city of Rs 15 crores collected from them through its offices here and in Khodha.

The company had collected money in lakhs from the people falsely promising them good land along with pattas in the district. The company neither returned the money nor gave them land documents.

The company also shut down some of its offices to avoid people’s anger. “Acting on the complaints filed by a group of depositors from the district, we arrested Jena from his office during the raid today and forwarded him to the designated court in Cuttack,” said a CB official.

Earlier, Saheed Nagar police had arrested Jena in June 2013 in a similar case. He was in bail since then.

There are two cases pending against Jena in Saheed Nagar police station in one of which 30 people had accused him of fraud.