BHUBANESWAR: Police on Thursday detained a youth for allegedly cheating around three persons by claiming he had contacts with several high-profile political leaders. He had allegedly promised to facilitate their job transfers.
The accused, identified as Rahul Sahoo of Angul, duped three persons of a total of Rs 45,000. The trio caught hold of him from a lodge in the city earlier in the day after he stopped responding to their phone calls. They later handed him over to the Bhubaneswar police.
“Sahoo claimed he has contacts with political leaders and ministers. He took Rs 15,000 from me on the promise of facilitating my transfer. However, when he did not execute the deals or returned our money, we became suspicious and examined his credentials during which we found out that he was a fraud,” said one of the victims while speaking to mediapersons.
Sahoo had posted his photographs with senior BJP leaders like Dharmendra Pradhan, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, deputy chief minister Pravati Parida and Higher Education minister Suryabanshi Suraj on his social media accounts. His photographs with the senior leaders went viral on the day. In one of the photographs, he was seen giving a flower bouquet to Majhi during a programme here.
Police are also verifying the allegations against Sahoo that he took money from others too.