Bhubaneswar: A woman and three others were arrested today by Tamando police for allegedly duping a doctor of Rs 1 lakh in Bhubaneswar.

The four arrested are Bapi alias Nishikant Patra (33), the son of Akhila Chandra Patra of Naragada under Tamando police limits and residing at Duplex No-61 of City Homes housing complex here; Irani Patra (27), the wife of Nishikant; Ganesh alias Manoranjan Pradhan (30), the son of Bansidhar Pradhan from Sijuput village under Tamando PS; Girija alias Shaktikant Harichandan (36), the son of Sudarshan Harichandan of Sijuput, a press release issued by local police mentioned.

According to police sources, on September 8, the accused hatched a conspiracy and called the doctor over mobile phone to Irani’s rented house saying that she needed medical help in an emergency. The complainant who was at that time in Bhubaneswar believed in the woman’s words as he had earlier come in contact with her as his patient when the doctor was posted at Madhuban primary health centre (PHC).

The doctor reached the house at around 11.00 pm and after entering into it, Irani, Bapi, Ganesh and Girija suddenly locked the main door and confined him in a room. They demanded Rs 25 lakh at knifepoint and physically assaulted him. They threatened him with dire consequences in case he failed to pay the demanded amount and warned that the woman would file a false criminal case against him.

Finding no other way out, the doctor agreed to pay Rs 10 lakh and shared the password of his online payment gateway (PhonePe) with the culprits. Later, they transferred an amount of Rs 1 lakh from the PhonePe account of the complainant. As the limit of transfer of PhonePe is 1 lakh, the two accused namely Irani and Nishikant forcibly got a cheque issued in the woman's name amounting to Rs 9 lakh.

Tamando police registered a case (No-233, dated 11.09.2023 U/s 342/365/385/386/387/389/394/120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in this connection and launched a detailed probe.

Police have seized cash of Rs 30,000, a knife, two android mobile phones, and a duly signed cheque with face value of Rs 9 lakh issued to Irani Patra from the possession of the accused.

Notably, during the preliminary investigation, it was ascertained that the four accused committed similar offences with two other persons, which have not been reported to the police.

Accused Girija was previously involved in a murder committed under Jankia police limits.