BHUBANESWAR: Irani Patra (27), who was recently arrested for allegedly extorting Rs 10 lakh from a doctor, had reportedly targeted three other victims by asking them to visit her with chicken pakoda or biryani and a full bottle of Bacardi Limon rum.
Police said Irani interacted with at least four persons including the doctor on the social networking site Facebook. After developing bonhomie and ascertaining their financial status, she used to lure the victims for a meeting saying her husband was not present in the house.
“Irani asked the victims to visit her house and bring with them chicken pakoda or biryani along with Bacardi Limon rum. When they went to meet her, she along with her husband and their three associates used to lock them in the house and beat them up,” said an officer of Tamando police station.
Irani used to threaten the victims of lodging false complaints against them and immediately collected money through digital payments. The accused later collected the remaining extortion amount from the victims. Apart from extorting the doctor, the accused reportedly collected Rs 3.10 lakh from a contractor of Sijuput village in Khurda district, Rs 22,500 and a gold ring from a grocery wholesaler based out of Bolagarh and Rs 5,000 from a student hailing from Keonjhar.
The student, who is the son of a government employee and preparing for competitive exams, was forced to make a digital payment of Rs 5,000. The accused had threatened him to give Rs 1.95 lakh more and he went home to collect the amount but they were arrested before he returned.
“A total of four cases have been registered against the accused. We have requested the court to take them on five-day remand and the order is awaited,” said the officer.While four accused were arrested on Tuesday, one more associate was held on Sunday. Irani used to host jatra shows before getting married to Nishikanta Patra (33) of Tamando.
Nishikanta shifted to a rented accommodation along with Irani due to some family dispute. As the couple was staying on rent and had little money, Irani reportedly started cheating different people.The couple along with their associates Debananda Jena, relative of a local sarpanch, murder accused Saktikanta Harichandan (36) and Manoranjan Pradhan implemented a modus operandi of sending friend requests to random people on Facebook and when they fell into the trap, they looted them.
Modus operandi
Irani asked the victims to visit her house and bring with them chicken pakoda or biryani along with Bacardi Limon rum
She threatened victims of lodging false complaints