CB arrests Cambodia-based NRI for duping jobseekers | Bhubaneswar News
Bhubaneswar: Nearly 23 years after the first cheating case was registered against Bishnu Prasad Pattanaik, the state crime branch on Friday arrested him from his residence in Begunia area of Khurda district for allegedly deceiving highly educated youths with false promises of lucrative jobs abroad.The 60-year-old data management professional currently stays in Cambodia and had recently come home. A crime branch team led by inspector Raj Kishore Behera received information about Pattanaik’s presence in Odisha and subsequently arrested him on Friday.During all these years, five cases of fraud had been registered against him in Rayagada district, with the first one at Bisam Katak police station in 2002. Crime branch officials suspect there could be more cases, including in states like Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.The crime branch was looking for him in relation to two cases filed at Gunupur police station in Rayagada district in 2018. In the first case, he allegedly defrauded an aeronautical engineer of Rs 90 lakh by promising him jobs in two reputed international airlines in London and Germany. In the other case, he purportedly collected Rs 15 lakh from an electronics and instrumentation engineer, promising employment in Thailand.Both the victims were from Rayagada district in Odisha.“Since 2012, he had been living in Cambodia, avoiding arrest. The bureau of immigration had issued a look out circular against him on Jan 17, 2019, which expired in 2020. During this period, he circumvented air travel,” DG (crime branch) Vinaytosh Mishra said.“We found that he impersonated various professionals, including a doctor, professor and engineer to deceive victims, utilising his persuasive communication skills and NRI status. He took the aeronautical engineer to Cambodia in Feb 2016 and Thailand in Oct 2016, under the pretext of arranging job interviews with international airlines,” Mishra added.Describing him as a ‘habitual fraudster’, the crime branch DG said the accused created forged appointment letters of reputed companies to swindle job seekers. The crime branch found that he possessed two passports, including a forged one.“He claims to run an IT-cum-job consultancy firm in Cambodia. This claim is under verification. If more victims turn up to lodge complaints against the accused, it will help us to build a strong charge sheet against him,” the crime branch chief said.
