Shop owner duped of Rs 22,500 using ‘magic pen’ in Odisha Capital

Bhubaneswar: A miscreant allegedly conned a shop owner Rs 22,500 in Bhubaneswar in a cheque fraud using a pen with erasable ink. After the shop owner filed a complaint at Khandagiri police station, cops launched probe into the allegation.

As per the complaint, the shop owner, Somanath Sahu is a resident of Jagamara area and owns an electronic shop in Bapuji Nagar. He got a call on March 4 from a ‘representative’ of a private bank identifying himself as Bikash Singh who offered him a personal loan of Rs 1 lakh. As Somanth was in need of money, he agreed to the offer.

A youth reached Somanath’s shop at around 10.30 pm the next day to collect two cheques. He took one cheque of Rs 100 as processing fee from Somnath.
Also, he filled a cancelled cheque with his pen and asked Somanth to put his signature. After collecting both the cheques, the youth assured Somnath that loan amount will be credited to his bank account by 3 pm.

But Somanth got message on March 5 that Rs 22,500 has been withdrawn from his bank account. After an inquiry with the bank, he came to know that the amount was withdrawn on basis of the cheque deposited by the youth.

A police official said preliminary investigation showed the amount was withdrawn from Somanth’s account by a person with a help of a cheque. The miscreant also provided an Aadhaar number to the bank. Investigation will reveal whether the Aadhaar number issued in the name of one Rajat Sharma from Nayapalli area is original or duplicate.

He further said the erasable ink could be removed with the help of a lighter easily.