BHUBANESWAR: An Odia man was arrested by Tamil Nadu police for cheating migrants on the pretext of bringing them back to their homes in Odisha. The accused is Gopal Chandra Sahoo a native of Nayagarh district. According to police, one Badal Kumar Das of Berhampur recently contacted Ollywood actor Sabyasachi Mishra on Twitter informing him that he and his seven associates wanted to return to Odisha from Coimbatore.
Badal had uploaded a selfie with his friends, which he had clicked when he went to watch one of Sabyasachi’s movies. He also provided his mobile phone number in the tweet. The actor replied, “The picture shows you have spent money on my movie. Now it is my time to pay you back. You are coming back for sure.”Taking the phone number, Gopal, who stays in Coimbatore, recently telephoned Badal and claimed to be the representative of Sabyasachi. The con man told Badal that he will make arrangements for their return journey in a bus and demanded Rs 6,500 from each of them. Badal contacted the actor and expressed his inability to arrange the money.
Realising it to be fraud, Sabyasachi informed Additional Commissioner of Police Anup Sahoo, who contacted his Coimbatore counterpart. Badal filed a complaint with Coimbatore police. On Thursday, Badal asked the con man to meet him. As the miscreant arrived, police present there in plain clothes nabbed him,” said Sabyasachi. Saibaba Colony police registered a case under Sections 420 and 511 of IPC on Thursday and arrested Gopal.