Fraudster posing as railway official dupes job aspirants in Cuttack, arrested

Cuttack: The Chauliaganj Police in Cuttack today arrested a fake railway official, who was allegedly duping people on pretext of providing them jobs in various government sectors in Odisha.

The accused person was identified as Balaram Behera alias Bubu, son of Gouranga Behera from Kunarpur area under Binjharpur police limits in Jajpur district.

The 36-year-old Balaram was defrauding people by showing forged identity cards of East Coast Railway, Cuttack UPD DCP said today.

The accused youth was residing at Bhimpur locality under Airport police limits in Bhubaneswar.

The Chauliaganj police arrested the accused based on a complaint lodged by a victim Soumendranath Sarangi on February 1, 2021.

As per the complaint, Sarangi had come in contact with Balaram Behera in January 2020. The latter had introduced himself as the In-charge of Cuttack Railway Transporting department. He had asked the job aspirant to pay Rs 1.60 lakh to get a clerical job in Home Department in State Secretariat.

As per their discussion, the complainant paid Rs 1,60,000 in four instalments through NEFT to the account of Balaram Behera vide A/C No.-074510100060683 of Andhra Bank, Budheswari Colony, Bhubaneswar in order to get a job in Odisha Government.

However, the accused shifted his rented house from Mahanadi Vihar and switched off his mobile phone after receiving the amount. With no option left, the victim reported the matter with the Chauliaganj Police this year following which a case was registered under section 420/34 of IPC.

During investigation, police today apprehended the accused and seized 5 forged Employee ID of East Coast Railway, 2 mobile phones and one red colour scooter (Maestro) bearing Regd. No.-OD-02-AB-7850 from his possession.

During the probe, another incident came to light that Balaram had cheated one Bijay Kumar Nayak, a resident of Gandhipalli area under Chauliaganj police limits in Cuttack, in similar manner and siphoned cash amounting to Rs 2.30 lakh from him with assurance of giving a government job at AIIMS Bhubaneswar.

In this connection, the Chauliganj Police registered a case under sections 420/294/506/34 of IPC and initiated probe.