STF BUSTS AN IMPERSONATION & EXTORTION RACKET OPERATING IN ODISHA& JHARKHAND AND ARRESTS TWO CONS IMPERSONATING AS ED OFFICERS

Bureau, Odishabarta, Bhubaneswar (17-03-2024 ) :

STF on 16.03.2024 arrested two persons namely Tarinisen Mohapatra, 30 Years
and Brahmashankar Mohapatra, 27 Years both are sons of Prafulla Kumar
Mohapatraof Dolamandapsahi PO: Dhenkanal PS. Dhenkanal Town Dist.
Dhenkanal, who impersonated themselves as Senior Officers of Enforcement
Directorate and demanded huge money from more than 300 Government
officials.

STF PS Case No. 15 dated 15.03.2024 U/s. 419/420/384/388/506/120(B) IPC was
registered on the report of the Complt.Sri Debadatta Mohanta, Sub-Collector cum
SDM, Chhatrapur regarding demand of money from the complt. by one person
impersonating as Addl. Director, Enforcement Directorate. During investigation,
so far, it was ascertained that-
-They (accused brothers) belong to Ward No.16, Dolamandapsahi, PS: Dhenkanal
Town P.S , District : Dhenkanal. Their qualifications are as follows:
TarinisenMohapatra Bramha Shankar Mohapatra
B.Com Graduate +2 + BCA ( dropped)
– They were maintaining luxurious life for which they borrowed huge money
from their locality i.e. Dhenkanal town area. When the borrower
pressurized them to return money, both the brothers left Dhenkanal and
temporarily went to Ranchi , Jharkhand and stayed there in a rented house
@ Rs.10, 000/- per month.
– They worked in a NGO styled as “UPKAR”, which operates in Ranchi,
Jharkhand area. As per the instructions of Liyakat Ali Khan (MD of NGO
UPAKAR), both the brothers were managing the NGO “UPKAR” but due to
some reason, the said UPKAR was not functioning well at Ranchi for last
one year.
– To maintain their luxurious life, both the brothers hatched out a plan to
cheat the vulnerable Govt. officials like (officials of Tahasil, Collectorate,
RTO etc.) by impersonating themselves as “Addl Director of Enforcement
Directorate, Bhubaneswar”. They especially chose “ED” because of the
current prevailing news coverage about various ED raids.
– They watched and studied all ED related news articles so that they can
impersonate and imitate well to scare/ extort Govt officials.
– They are very good in computer operations and creating fake documents in
computer. They created lots of fake documents, letter heads, clearance
letter, logo etc.
– They procured 02 SIMS (01 from Odisha and01 From Ranchi, Jharkhand)
and made voice / WhatsApp calls to Govt. officials of different State
Government Departments by collecting the Govt. Official’s Mobile Number
from the Web Directory and other sources.
– They also saved their number in “True Caller” and WhatsApp profile name
as: “Sanjay Mishra ED”. They identified themselves as Sanjaya Mishra, Addl.
Director,Enforcement Directorate.
– They would generally tell Govt. officials that one complaint case has been
instituted against him which was received from Vigilance Department
relating to a corruption case and ED is about to begin the enquiry & raids
against him.
– If any Govt. Officials did not respond their voice /WhatsApp calls , they sent
SMS / WhatsApp message as “ This side Sanjaya Mishra, Director of
Enforcement Department …. My investigation officer trying to connect
you but you did not attend the call. Make an instant call. It’s very urgent
else I can’t control the vigilance “.
– They asked money to settle/close the so called case/enquiry. They called
around 340 Govt officials. However, in most of the cases, they could not
succeed to extort money but in some cases they succeeded.
– They received the money from Govt. Officials from their PhonePe and
GooglePay wallets. So Far, STF has traced the transaction/payment of more
than Rs 16 Lakh. Further investigation is on.
– Investigation is on to find out whether they have done similar
impersonation/ extortion targeting Jharkhand Govt officials too as they
were staying in Ranchi, Jharkhand too.
– After receiving the demanded money, accused persons sent fabricated
clearance letter(of Enforcement Directorate and central vigilance
commission) to the concerned Govt officials.
– Following articles were seized from their possession-
– One lenevo make laptop
– One Lenevo Desktop ( Monitor and CPU)
– 05 Nos. of Mobile handset ( Iphone, OnePlus, Realme )
– Bank Passobooks and Cheque Books
– Fake Identity cards issued by UPKAR CPLI Project
– 17 Nos. of fake ATM-Cum-Debit Cards.