BHUBANESWAR: The City police on Wednesday arrested eight persons including three policemen for cheating a businessman and seized Rs 99.5 lakh from them. The accused policemen are constables, Sandipta Kumar Prusty of Badamba, Prafulla Kumar Bhuyan of Bhanjanagar and Havildar Dilip Kumar Mallick of Pipili. While Dilip was staying at the reserve police office in the Capital, Bhuyan was staying at the reserve police office in Cuttack.
This apart, Prasanta Kumar Panda of Gop, Abhishek Sethy of Capital’s Airfield area, Raj Rayabahadur of Chauliaganj in Cuttack, Prashant Padhy of Rasulgarh Sabar Sahi and Maheswar Sahoo of Ghatagaon in Keonjhar were arrested by the police.
Police said Maheswar along with a middleman and the other accused had lured businessman Kamal Saha of Karanjia into investing Rs 1 crore with the promise of a return of Rs 50 lakh in addition to the principal amount. The accused had told Saha that they will invest his money in the Angadia scheme. Angadias are people who deal in unofficial banking-cum-courier services.
Such services are usually used by businessmen who transact in huge sums. Apart from banking, Angadias also transfer cash and jewellery to cities like New Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata. Police said the accused had asked Saha to come to Hotel Bijaya Palace along with the cash on Tuesday. Saha arrived at the hotel carrying the cash in 40 bundles. However, the middleman, who is absconding, and the three policemen ditched their associates and took away nine bundles of cash containing Rs 22.5 lakh.
Before fleeing, they called the police and lodged a false complaint that an IPL betting racket is on in the hotel. While police conducted raided the spot, they found that Saha had been duped of his money. They then apprehended the eight accused and seized Rs 99.5 lakh, nine mobile phones and two motorcycles from them. Police said a manhunt has been launched to nab the middleman. Meanwhile, the three police personnel were suspended by Commissionerate police following their arrest.