A former officer of the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) has been arrested by the Tukaramgate police for cheating two businessmen to the tune of a Rs 2 crore.
Saumya Ranjan Mahapatra (53), was detained by the authorities at the Chennai airport Saturday and sent to Hyderabad the same evening. According to B Sudershan Reddy, Tukaramgate police inspector, Mahapatra was removed from service in 2009 for being irregular at work. Since then he has been engaged in the business of iron ore exports.
“When in service, he was transferred from Hyderabad to Hubli in 2004. He was dismissed from service there for not working properly. He also has a business in Singapore,” the inspector said, adding that Mahapatra’s wife died years ago, and his daughter is studying in Singapore.
It was for business purposes that Mahapatra, a resident of Tukaramgate in Secunderabad, approached Narsaraju, a wealthy wholesale fruit merchant, and borrowed `70 lakh from him. “He gave cheques and promissory notes worth `30 lakh as sureties for the money he took from the trader. Moreover, he promised his lender good returns on the money he lent. But, the accused sent two of his associates, Mohd. Yaseen and Ibhrahim, to Narsaraju’s house at Saidabad to intimidate him and to forcefully get back the sureties,” explained Reddy. In a similar fashion, Mahapatra borrowed `1.3 crore from another trader, Venugopal. “After borrowing the amount, he stopped all contact with Venugopal and fled to Singapore,” the inspector said.
“When returned from Singapore on January 29, he was nabbed at the Chennai airport and sent to Hyderabad the same day,” Reddy said. A case was registered against Mahapatra.