Odisha: Youth poses as IT officer, dupes childhood friend

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha police on Saturday arrested a 29-year-old youth on charges of cheating his childhood friend impersonating himself as an income-tax (IT) inspector.

The accused identified as Subhransu Jena of Tilakana village under Nemalo police limits in Cuttack district was staying in Chakeisiani area in Bhubaneswar.

The police said Subhransu and complainant Prafulla Swain were studying in the same school till Class 10. After higher studies, Prafulla was sent to Bangaluru and had worked there in a private company.

Posing himself as an IT Inspector, Subhransu assured Prafulla of getting him a job in Odisha income-tax department and managed to extract Rs 50,000 from him. He again demanded Rs 1.5 lakh cash for the same. Lured by the offer, Prafulla quit his private job and came back from Bangalore.

On Saturday morning, both met and were roaming near in  Paradeep beach in Jagatsinghpur district, when Subhransu made a plan to win his friend’s trust. He went inside Paradeep Model police station introducing himself as an I-T inspector and initiated a conversation with the cops present there. However, his trick landed him into the police dragnet.

Suspecting his activities, the cops asked Subhransu to show his identity card. When the latter failed to furnish his identity proof, the police grilled him and managed to elicit all information from him. The police arrested him and initiated an inquiry to find out if the accused had cheated more persons with his trick.