BHUBANESWAR: Dhenkanal police on Wednesday arrested two women for allegedly cheating transport companies engaged by Rungta Mines Limited (RML) to deliver eight truckloads of iron pellets.
Investigation revealed that accused Santoshi Mohanty (29) of Talcher and Rashmita Jena (37) of Bari cheated truck owners Gitarani Behera and Rajesh Sasmal, who have the contracts to transport iron pellets from RML to Paradip.
The accused, however, claimed they were in transportation business and lured Gitarani and Rajesh on the promise of providing them more transportation contracts of various steel plants/industries.
Santoshi and Rashmita asked the complainants to sub-let them RML’s iron pellet transportation contracts. They even executed agreements with Gitarani and Rajesh on stamp papers stating they will look after the entire process starting from loading of iron pellets from RML until the delivery of the consignments in Paradip.
As per the agreement, the victims agreed to provide their trucks to the accused persons. On March 5, Santoshi, Rashmita and one of their associates Sumanta Sahu loaded iron pellets from RML in eight trucks and left for delivery of the consignments in Paradip.
However, they asked the truck drivers to unload the iron pellets near Manguli citing road blockade ahead due to some construction work. They stole the iron pellets weighing several tonnes and later provided forged documents to the truck owners mentioning that the consignments were delivered to the consignees.
Gitarani and Rajesh came to know about the thefts only after the consignees informed them that they had not received the iron pellets. “Santoshi runs a beauty parlour in Talcher. She and Rashmita were part of a bigger group involved in cheating transport companies and stealing iron pellets and other raw materials. Investigation is continuing to ascertain the involvement of other anti-socials and further action will be initiated accordingly,” said Dhenkanal SP, Abhinav Sonkar.