BHUBANESWAR: In a plot straight out of Bollywood movie Special 26, a 59-year-old man of Jagatsinghpur was arrested for minting money from businessmen by impersonating as an Income Tax officer. The accused, Umakanta Rout was earlier working with IT department in the Capital as a peon. He used to demand money from businessmen in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar by impersonating himself as a senior officer of the IT department and threatened them of dire consequences if they did not agree to pay the amount.
Police said, Rout had joined the IT department in 1987 and became a regular employee in 1991. However, when the department came to know about some of Rout’s illegal activities, he was forced to retire in 2015.
He was out of the job but could not quit his conning instincts. Recently, he contacted Debasish Patnaik who has a frozen food agency in Bhouma Nagar. Identifying himself as an Assistant Commissioner of the Income Tax Department, Rout demanded ` 10,000 and threatened to conduct a raid in his firm if he did not pay the money, said an officer of Kharavela Nagar police station.
Patnaik panicked on receiving the call from Rout thinking he was an Income Tax official. But the complainant became suspicious as Rout refused to take the money from the Income Tax office or his home and insisted to make payment via online platforms like PhonePe and Google Pay. He then lodged a complaint with Kharavela Nagar police and a case was registered in this regard on July 31 this year. Police launched an investigation and found out that Rout was behind the crime.
During investigation, it was found that Malgodown police had three cases against Rout in 2019 and this year for similar offences. Chauliaganj police in Cuttack and Infocity police in Bhubaneswar have also registered cases against him in 2019 and 2020 respectively for committing similar crimes. Police said Rout has no financial issues but has become habitual of committing such crimes. “He has a three-storey building in Biridi. His son is also employed,” said a police officer.