Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Crime Branch has arrested a notorious fraudster, Bishnu Prasad Pattanaik alias Biranchi Narayan Pattanaik, for allegedly duping multiple job aspirants of lakhs of rupees by promising lucrative jobs abroad. He was nabbed from Bhubaneswar on May 21, 2025, after years of evading arrest.

Pattanaik had been under the scanner of the CID-Crime Branch for several years in connection with two major cases of cheating registered at the Gunupur police station in 2018. He had allegedly promised high-paying jobs in international airlines like British Airways and Lufthansa, creating fake offer and appointment letters to trap his victims.

In one case, he duped an aeronautical engineer from Coimbatore of Rs 90 lakh with false promises of a job at British Airways and later Lufthansa. In another case, he cheated a woman from Rayagada district of Rs 15 lakh by promising her son a lucrative engineering job abroad. Both cases were taken over by the CID-Crime Branch for investigation.

During the probe, it was found that Pattanaik assumed fake identities — posing as a doctor, professor, and engineer — to gain the trust of his victims. He also forged documents, including passports, driving licenses, and address proofs, to hide his real identity. Investigators discovered he had created fake job offer letters under the names of reputed international consultancy firms like HR Maxons and Lufthansa Technik.

To escape arrest, Pattanaik fled to Cambodia in 2012, where he allegedly started an IT company. He reportedly created a second passport under a different identity and had been evading authorities ever since. A Look Out Circular was issued against him in January 2019, and was renewed in 2020.

Crime Branch officials revealed that Pattanaik had duped people not only in Odisha’s Rayagada, Berhampur, and Bhubaneswar, but also in Visakhapatnam and other parts of the country. He was last spotted in Odisha in 2023, and his movements were closely monitored.

Acting on a combination of human and technical intelligence, a CID-CB team led by Inspector Rajkishore Behera tracked his arrival in India in May 2025 and arrested him in Bhubaneswar. He has been booked under multiple sections of the IPC, including 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 465 (forgery), and 506 (criminal intimidation). He was produced before the SDJM court in Gunupur, Rayagada district.

Crime Branch sources said the investigation is ongoing and efforts are being made to identify more victims and possible accomplices in Pattanaik’s network of fraud. Authorities have urged anyone who may have been duped by him to come forward.