BHUBANESWAR: Hotel Nilachal Ashok, a defunct property of Indian Tourism Development Corporation which has now planned its demonetisation, was almost ‘sold off’. Well, yes. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Crime Branch has arrested a conman who had defrauded businessman on the pretext of selling him the property at Puri.
The accused, Anikesh Sahu of Cuttack, along with his associates cheated Tapan Kumar Mohanty of Rs 50 lakh to execute the fake sale of Hotel Nilachal Ashok. The matter came to fore following EOW’s probe into a similar fraud into fake work orders issued on behalf of Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC). The main accused in the fraud, Chandan Akash Mohanty, a former contractual assistant engineer of OTDC is in jail for cheating a contractor to the tune of `3 crore by issuing fake work orders of OTDC in his favour.
Anikesh, who impersonated as a contractor involved in ITDC projects, along with Chandan and another accomplice met Tapan in January last year and persuaded him to purchase Hotel Nilachal Ashok for Rs 15 crore, alleged the victim’s wife Bijayini who lodged a case with EOW.
Chandan impersonated as ITDC secretary and the third accused claimed that he was working as a clerk in the corporation. Anikesh, Chandan and their associate approached Tapan, proprietor of TK Egg and Chicken Centre in Puri, through one of his friends and executed an agreement in February, 2020 to sell the hotel. Chandan executed the fake agreement in the capacity of authorised signatory for ITDC, and Anikesh and the third accused signed as witnesses.
In order to gain his trust, Anikesh asked him to deposit Rs 20 lakh in ITDC’s official account in Delhi and took `30 lakh cash from him. However, when Tapan came to know that Chandan was arrested in August for issuing fake work orders of OTDC, he asked Anikesh to return the money but to no avail. Unable to bear the loss, Tapan suffered a brain stroke and has been paralysed.
“The agency had earlier this year registered a separate case against Chandan for impersonating as an OTDC official and cheating a contractor to the tune of Rs 3 crore. He is in judicial custody,” EOW DIG Jai Narayan Pankaj said. EOW has seized various documents and articles including fake seals of Chandan certifying him as a senior official of ITDC.
The investigating agency has also contacted ITDC to verify the money transferred by the victim. Hotel Nilachal Ashok located close to the Raj Bhawan in Puri is lying defunct for several years. The ITDC has an 89 per cent stake in the hotel while the remaining 11 per cent is with OTDC.