EOW ARRESTS TWO Fraudsters FOR IMPERSONATING AS IAS (Additional Secretary) & PWD OFFICER IN A CHEATING CASE OF MORE THAN Rs. 1.17 CRORES
Bureau,Odishabarta
Bhubaneswar: Economic Offences Wing, Bhubaneswar has arrested accused persons namely Surymani Tripathy and Amit Kumar on 29.10.2021 from Cuttack and Bhubaneswar respectively in EOW PS Case No. 14 dt. 28.10.2021U/s 419/420/467/468/471/120-B IPC.They are being forwarded to the court of SDJM, Bhubaneswar today.
The above referred case has been registered on the basis of a written complaint filed by Sri Rikab Chand Munot @ Mukesh Jain, Proprietor of M/s Rashtriya Stainless Steel, Jindal House, Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi that accused persons Rajesh Gahlot,Surya Mani Triapthy and Amit Kumar by entering into criminal conspiracy with another accused and impersonating themselves respectively as the officers of RAW,IAS and PWD, cheated the complainant & his son with the help of another lady who impersonated as Treasury Officer in respect of Rs.1.17crores on the pretext of arranging/ facilitating big Govt. work orders/ contracts for them in Works Dept., Govt of Odisha.
Sri Rikab Chand Munot @ Mukesh Jain is the Proprietor of M/s Rashtriya Stainless Steel,1/9-B, Jindal House, Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi – 110002. He was having its Branch Office at Kalinganagar, Bhubaneswar, the Proprietor of which was his son Akshay Munot @ Jain. During the 2017, the complainant through one of his friend came in contact with Rajesh Gahlot, who introduced himself as an officer of RAW having many IAS officers in Odisha as his friends. He subsequently introduced the Complt. and his son Akshay to accused Suryamani Tripathy at Odisha Niwas, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi as an IAS Officer, posted as Addl. Secretary to Government of Odisha in PWD (Public Works Department).They both assured the complainant and his son to help them in getting high value Govt. contracts /work orders under “Pradhan Mantree Yojana” in Odisha. Subsequently, during January, 2018, being called upon by Suryamani Tripathy for executing Agreement with PWD, Odisha pertaining to work orders in favour of Complainant’s firm, the complainant & his son came to the office of EIC, Nirman Soudha, Bhubaneswar, where, one accd. Amit was introduced to them by Suryamani Tripathyas an Engineer working with PWD. Both Suryamani and Amit took the complainant & his son to Bhubaneswar Court and prepared the Agreements on stamp papers & also got the documents/ agreement papers purportedly signed by Asst. Engineer, O/o EIC (Civil), Nirman Soudha, Bhubaneswar and took the signature of Akshay Munot (complainant’s son) on behalf of Rashtriya Stainless Steel and also got the Agreement papers notarized.
It has also been ascertained that during March-2018, the above named Suryamani Tripathy and Amit called the complainant & his son to Bhubaneswar asking them to deposit a sum of Rs.25 lakhs with Govt. Treasury for registering their firm i.e. M/s Rashtriya Stainless Steel with PWD, Odisha for issuance of work order. Being persuaded by them, the complainant accompanied both the accused to the premises of Govt. Treasury, at OLA Campus, BBSR and paid cash of Rs.25 lakhs to one lady at the instances of the accused person, and Suryamani Tripathy collected a treasury receipt in respect of Rs.25 lakhs & handed over the same to the Complainant. Subsequently Suryamani Tripathy handed over two work orders to complainant, purportedly issued by Asst. Engineer, O/o EIC(Civil) Nirman Soudha, BBSR for the contract value of Rs.3 crore sand 4 crores on 15.03.18 and again on 21.08.18 two work orders having contract value of Rs.32.52 crores and Rs.47.52crores for laying rising main and distribution pipe lines of HDPF / GI/ DI construction of pump house, compound wall, RCC ESR, SB Chamber Stand Post etc for pipe water supply schemes to Taraboi under 30 districts and 314 block in Odisha. The accused persons went on collecting money under different pleas/ pretext to expedite the process.
Suryamani Tripathy also handed over a fake letter, purportedly signed by Accounts Officer O/o EIC (Civil), Nirman Soudha, Bhubaneswar addressed to Branch Manager, Axis Bank, Unit-IV, Bhubaneswar requesting therein to transfer an amount of Rs.1.52 crores & Rs.3.16crores (i.e. totaling to Rs.4.68 cores) towards the 20% advance against the work order to the account of M/s Rashtriya Stainless Steel, Bhubaneswar maintained with SBI, Axix Bank, Unit-IV, BBSR branch and insisted the complainant to sign on Money receipts against receipt of above money from O/o EIC (Civil), Nirman Soudh, Bhubnaeswar. Accordingly, the son of complt. gave two money receipt of 4.68 Crores but no amount was transferred to his Account.
When no work was assigned, the complt. started doubting the conduct of the accused persons and sought information under RTI about the accused persons and the work order so given them and came to know that all the documents including the Treasury Receipt are fake and so also the identity of the accused persons. It has been learnt that accused SuryamaniTripathy has been working as a clerk in the office of DTET (directorate of Technical Education & Training), Cuttack, whereas Amit Kumar is an unemployed.
Fake work orders/ agreements / treasury receipts have been seized. It is suspected that accused might have cheated many other persons too. They used to use the Odisha Niwas, New Delhi to make any deal to impress/ gain trust of complainant. Also the accused has saved the mobile numbers of senior IAS/ IPS/ OAS officers/Judges to impress the complainant/ other party.
Investigation of the case is continuing to identify and nab the other accused persons involved in this case and in similar kind of frauds as he fooled / misused truecaller too…. It shows him as Joint secretary.
Any other people who might have been cheated by this person is/ are requested to contact EOW.
