Berhampur: Jagannathprasad police arrested a journalist of a media house Tuesday night on charges of allegedly duping around 90 labourers of over Rs 27 lakh. The office of the media house is located at Sarakumpa village in Ganjam district. Police identified the arrested accused as Bansidhar Patnaik. PA case has been registered under Sections 419, 420, 460, and 471 of the IPC against the accused journalist.
Also read: Vigilance sleuths raid houses of school headmaster in Bargarh
Bansidhar, while residing in the Visakhapatnam in 2018 had pretended to be the supervisor of various ports. He had come in contact with many local labourers including one of their leaders M Nani Babu.
On the pretext of providing jobs, Bansidhar collected Rs 30,000 from each of them. Allegedly he had also given them fake appointment letters and ID cards. However, after collecting over Rs 27 lakh from the labourers, he suddenly disappeared. He stopped receiving calls and most of the time his mobile was switched off.
When the laborers realised that they had been duped, they started searching for Bansidhar. Nani Babu and four others started looking for Bansidhar at various places in Ganjam district.
Accidentally, they spotted Bansidhar at Jagannathprasad market in Ganjam district Tuesday. They noted down the number of the two-wheeler in which Bansidhar was travelling.
Subsequently they lodged an FIR. Police tracked down Bansidhar with the help of the registration number of his vehicle and arrested him. He was forwarded to court Wednesday. Police have also seized Rs 48,000 and the scooter from his possession.
PNN