BARIPADA: Kaptipada police in Mayurbhanj on Saturday arrested a 46-year-old woman from Hanspal in Bhubaneswar on charges of duping several people of over Rs 3 crore by promising them jobs in the Labour department and arranging loans for women.
The accused, Binodini Nayak of Balani area in Keonjhar district, used to pose as a senior Labour department official and approach the victims. Police seized a mobile phone and multiple SIM cards from her possession.
Preliminary investigation revealed that Nayak was involved in more than six fraud cases and had collected more than Rs 3 crore from victims over the past three years. She reportedly posed as a senior officer of the Labour department and used more than 30 SIM cards from different telecom companies to contact victims and lure them with false job offers. Police said her convincing manner of speaking made it difficult for people to suspect her.
Kaptipada IIC Madhumita Mohanty said a cheating case was registered against Nayak following a complaint filed by Santosh Kumar Pati of Parasibada village on January 22. According to the complainant, he had paid Rs 30 lakh to Nayak a few months ago after she promised to secure him a job in the Labour department.
Nayak reportedly kept giving him false assurances, claiming that the appointment letter would reach him soon. However, she later switched off her mobile phone, prompting the victim to lodge a complaint.
Following the complaint, police launched an investigation with the help of the district cyber police and traced the accused to Bhubaneswar, the IIC said. After her arrest, Nayak was produced before the SDJM Court in Udala. Her bail petition was rejected, and she was remanded to judicial custody, the IIC added.
Police further revealed that multiple cheating cases had been registered against her at Kaptipada, Udala, Bangiriposi and Bhanjpur police stations in Mayurbhanj district, Berhampur police station in Balasore district, and Kharavela Nagar, Balipatna and other police stations.