Bhubaneswar: The Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Police arrested one more fake RTI activist in connection with a cheating case.

The accused has been identified as Kanhu Charan Pradhan, a mastermind in a group that used to cheat people claiming to be RTI activists.

Earlier, the STF had arrested one fake RTI activist namely Kishore Mishra, and some others working in close association with the main accused Pradhan.

Pradhan is a resident of Tangi in Khordha district. He lives in Bhubaneswar. He is a graduate. Earlier, he used to run a liquor shop, the STF stated in a release today.

He was arrested in connection with a case initially registered at the Koraput Town Police Station under sections 419/420/465/468/470/471/34 IPC on April 25.

During the course of investigation, the STF found that several cases were registered against Pradhan in the past. He was involved in at least four more cases.

According to reports, Pradhan impersonating as top officer in government departments was duping many people. The victims had saved his phone number as secretary or additional secretary.

The STF has seized expensive mobile phones, forged government notification/orders and other incriminating documents from his possession. It is suspected that the group had published some fake job advertisement in newspapers.

The mastermind in the group had allegedly fled to Thailand. He returned to Odisha recently.

The STF stated that the group used to dupe people claiming to be RTI activists. Claiming to have close proximity with senior officers in the administration, the group members were defrauding people on pretext of providing crusher license, liquor license, transfer/posting etc.

The group is indulged in thuggery/cheating/impersonation at various places in Odisha. The group uses some mule bank accounts including some accounts of dead persons. They trick people by saving their numbers as some senior officers so that when people verify the numbers on 'Truecaller', could trust them as genuine, the STF said.