BHUBANESWAR/BERHAMPUR: With the Enforcement Directorate (ED) gaining notoriety over its probe into several high-profile cases and arrests of political leaders and bureaucrats in the recent years, two brothers took advantage of the fear induced by the agency’s name to extort money from government officials in Odisha.
The duo Tarinisen Mohapatra (30) and his brother Brahmashankar (27) of Dhenkanal was arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of state Crime Branch on Saturday. They had allegedly attempted to extort money from nearly 350 Odisha government officials by impersonating as the Central agency’s officers and were reportedly successful in many cases. So far, the agency has traced transactions of over Rs 16 lakh in the bank accounts of the accused.
The matter came to light after a complaint was lodged by Chhatrapur sub-collector Debadatta Mohanta with the STF over demand of money by the accused from him by impersonating as an additional director of ED. The STF investigation revealed Tarinisen and Brahmashankar led a luxurious lifestyle and had borrowed huge sum of money from several people in Dhenkanal town. They had fled over a year back after the lenders started demanding their money.
They had shifted to Ranchi and started working with an NGO - Upkar. As the NGO based out of the Jharkhand capital was not making profits, the accused hit upon the idea to make some quick money. The duo decided to target collectorate, tehsil, RTO officials and others. They impersonated as ED officers as the central agency is in news recently for its raids pertaining to various cases, sources said.
The accused saved their names as one ‘Sanjaya Mishra ED’ on Truecaller and WhatsApp profiles. They allegedly used to contact government officials by claiming that they were additional director of ED Sanjay Mishra and had received a complaint against them from Vigilance department regarding corruption. They threatened that the Central agency was about to initiate an inquiry and raids against them.
If any government official did not respond to their voice /WhatsApp calls, they sent SMSes/WhatsApp messages which read - ‘This side Sanjaya Mishra, additional director of Enforcement Department. My investigation officer tried to connect but you did not attend the call. Make an instant call. It is very urgent, else I cannot control the Vigilance,” ED officials revealed.
They demanded money from the officials on the pretext of settling/closing the inquiries and cases against them. “Tarinisen and Brahmashankar called around 340 government officials in the last three to four months. In most instances, they did not succeed but in some cases they managed to extort money. They received the money through their PhonePe and Google Pay wallets,” said STF IG, Jai Narayan Pankaj.
After receiving money from their targets, they sent them fabricated clearance letters issued by ED and Central Vigilance Commission. STF is investigating whether the duo extorted money from Jharkhand government officials too by using similar modus operandi, Pankaj added.
Pankaj said, Tarinisen is a BCom graduate and Brahmashankar a Plus Two pass out. Brahmashankar had taken admission in BCA but did not complete the course.