BHUBANESWAR: Ramesh Chandra Swain who posed as a doctor and a senior Central government official had actually conned 18 women into marriage in over the last three decades.The 66-year-old Ramesh alias Dr Bidhu Prakash Swain alias Dr Ramani Ranjan Swain, who belongs to Singhalo in Kendrapara district, was arrested by Bhubaneswar police on Monday. He used to target educated and highly placed women across different states, marry them and then swindle their money. While police earlier traced 14 victims, further investigation revealed that he had married four more women.
Of the four victims, one is a senior official working with the Kerala government, another is a doctor from Guwahati, a chartered accountant based out of Bhilai and another is a native of Odisha. Police said as most of the victims are middle-aged and professionally established in higher positions, they were reluctant to lodge complaints against the accused. Instead, they chose to part ways with him without entering into any legal battles.
The police have engaged a woman councilor-cum-advocate to reach out to the victims and collect further information about Swain. One more case has been registered against Swain for staying on rent under Khandagiri police limits by submitting fake documents. Another case will be registered against him for collecting `18 lakh from a person on the promise of providing an MBBS seat to his son. The victim has contacted the police to lodge a formal complaint.Two PAN cards have been seized from the accused and police will write to the RBI to locate Swain’s bank accounts linked with the cards.