BHUBANESWAR: The Cyber Crime and Economic Offence Police here arrested a man for allegedly extorting money from government officials and contractors by impersonating a senior vigilance officer.
The accused, Manoj Kumar Majhi (34) of Titia village within Krushnaprasad police limits of Puri allegedly introduced himself as a senior IPS officer of a Vigilance wing in Odisha Police. His contact number on Truecaller showed him as SP Prakash, police said.
The accused allegedly extorted money from a dozen government officials and contractors. The incident came to light after Manoj Kumar Choudhury (31) of Gandhi Nagar in Rayagada district lodged a complaint with the cyber police in May last year alleging he was cheated on the pretext of being given the contract of construction of building of Vigilance divisional office at Therubali and Rayagada. Basing on the complaint, cyber police started its investigation and started collecting details on the accused. On verification of Majhi’s criminal antecedents, the investigating officials found he was previously involved in five cases of EOW in Ganjam, Puri and Mayurbhanj districts.
Cyber police said the accused has committed fraud to the tune of Rs 7,60,000 so far in different cases. Following Majhi’s arrest, a mobile phone, six bank ATM cards and Rs 2.60 lakh in cash was seized by police from him. case is on, police said.