Bhubaneswar: The economic offence wing (EOW) of Odisha police has arrested two fraudsters from Mumbai for cheating over Rs 2 crore from a businessman in Odisha. The accused persons are identified as Rakesh Kumar Girija Shankar Pandey and Sarman Singh Tomar. Both the accused were arrested on March 26 and have been brought to Odisha on transit remand, police said on Tuesday.
The arrest was made against a case registered based on a complaint filed by one Ashok Kumar Singh. As per the allegation, Rakesh, Sarman, and seven others have cheated more than Rs 2.02 crore on the pretext of financing Rs 100 crore to Ashok Kumar Singh for his business. During the investigation, the EOW found that Sarman Singh Tomar runs an illegal Hawala business in Mumbai and Rakesh Pandey, a native of Uttar Pradesh, is a veteran fraudster/criminal/extortionist having numerous criminal cases against him in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
The police seized debit cards, credit cards, and cheques from different banks, mobile phones, one pistol with eight rounds of live ammunition, and cash of Rs 50,000 from the possession of Rakesh Pandey. The EOW further informed that Rakesh Pandey is involved in at least 15 crimes like fraud, dacoity, robbery, swindling, forgery, and attempt to murder registered at different police stations in Mumbai, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh.
His involvement in other such cases is under verification, the officials said. The investigation of the case is continuing. Efforts are on to identify and arrest the remaining accused persons of the gang and to unveil their involvement in hawala transactions, they added.
Also read: Rs 120 crore lost to card, internet banking frauds in two years: Govt
IANS
