Engineer among 2 arrested for duping man of Rs 3 cr posing as OTDC official

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha Crime Branch arrested two persons, including an engineer, from their respective residences in Nayapalli area here and CDA in Cuttack for defrauding a man of Rs 3 crore.

The two accused– Chandan Akash Mohanty and Bijayananda Choudhury alias Swami Bijayanandaji Maharaj, a self-proclaimed godman–have been booked under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B of IPC.

An OTDC official had lodged a written complaint alleging that accused Chandan Akash Mohanty, who earlier worked as an Assistant Engineer in OTDC Bhubaneswar on contractual basis, in connivance with another person had cheated one Dhanurdhara Champatiray, a Special Class Contractor by issuing fake work orders in the name of OTDC and collected huge amount money from him towards EMD against the work orders.

Investigation revealed that Dhanurdhara was in search of work orders during COVID-19 pandemic. In May, 2020, he visited accused Bijayananda’s house, where the self-proclaimed godman introduced himself as the Chairman of OTDC Ltd and member of ITDC Ltd. He later introduced the victim with accused Chandan as the Assistant Engineer of OTDC, though his contract period had lapsed since May 31, 2019.

Both Bijayananda and Chandan assured the victim of providing work order from OTDC Ltd and asked him to deposit hefty amount of money towards EMD in personal bank account of Chandan. From August, 2020 to November, 2020, Chandan had given over 23 work orders, issued under the seal and signature of OTDC Ltd Executive Engineer. The accused duo managed to get Rs 3 crore from the contractor against the work orders.

Of the total amount, about Rs. 1.14 crore was deposited in the personal account of Chandan. A huge amount of money was paid to accused Bijayananda by Chandan. During investigation, the work orders were found to be fake. Further investigation of the case is underway, said the EOW.