BHUBANESWAR: In a slick con act, a gang allegedly impersonating as mines owners duped several unsuspecting citizens of the capital city to the tune of lakhs by promising to double their investments but eventually providing them paper bundles stashed between genuine currency notes.
Five persons, including a woman, have been arrested in this connection. Police investigation revealed, the woman accused Mamata Samal (40) of Angul impersonated as a mines owner and her associates - Anil Kumar Mistri (37) of Biramitrapur, Dilip Singh (48) of Nischintakoili, Batakrushna Pradhan (55) of Cuttack and Chitaranjan Das (40) of Khalari acted as her staff.
They targeted gullible citizens by befriending them at railway stations, hospitals, parks, markets and other crowded places. Posing as mines owner and staff, they claimed to possess huge amount of black money to the tune of Rs 300 crore in Rs 100 denomination currency notes, which they wanted to dispose of in return for lesser amounts to evade taxes.
Bhubaneswar DCP Jagmohan Meena said the gang lured the victims by promising them huge money in Rs 100 denomination notes in exchange of half of the amount in Rs 500 denomination notes. In some instances, the accused even gave away a few Rs 100 denomination notes in return for lesser amounts to gain the confidence of their targets.
Initially, the four men established contacts with the victims and later introduced Samal to them as the mines owner.
“After gaining the trust of the people, they took bundles of Rs 500 denomination notes and in return gave them bundles which had Rs 100 notes on the top and bottom and all in between were plain paper,” said Meena.
They carried the paper bundles in locked bags, opened them in front of their victims only for a fraction of seconds and advised them to leave immediately and check the amount after reaching their homes in a bid to avoid getting caught.
So far, the group has found to be involved in at least three cheating cases within Bharatpur and Nayapalli police limits. They had cheated two persons - Chhabi Behera of Rs 4.50 lakh and Binod Kumar Swain of Rs 6 lakh earlier in February.
While Swain works with a financial services firm, Behera is a driver. The accused persons have reportedly also cheated another person of Rs 12 lakh in the same manner. The victim reportedly lost all his savings which he had kept for his daughter’s marriage.
Sources said the gang’s members were also involved in cheating the citizens on the pretext of providing them gold biscuits at cheap prices. The notorious group has many more members and their network is spread across the state. They have committed similar crimes in Bhadrak, Cuttack, Ganjam, Sundargarh and other places, police said.
Police seized Rs 1 lakh cash, eight mobile phones, 15 bundles of paper cuttings and bags from them. Further investigation is continuing and involvement of more people is being looked into, said the police.