Balasore: Khantapada police in this district Thursday arrested a man on a charge of defrauding Rs 1.10 lakh from a youth of Subarnapur district on the pretext that a plain paper will turn into a Rs 500 note when dipped in a certain chemical. The accused was identified as Sunil Biswal, 45, a resident under Khantapada police limits in Balasore district and the victim as Santosh Kumar Mahakur of Birmaharajpur area in Subarnapur district.
Police registered a case and arrested the accused after the victim lodged an online complaint at the Khantapada police station. The accused was produced in the court and remanded to judicial custody after the rejection of his bail plea. This was stated by SDPO Shashank Sekhar Behera at a press meet held at the Khantapada police station, Thursday. The SDPO said that Santosh of Birmaharajpur came in contact with a fraudster claiming to be an astrologer. The imposter using his tricks showed him that he can turn a piece of plain paper into a Rs 500 denomination note by dipping it in a certain chemical.
Taken by his words, Santosh expressed his interest to buy the chemical to turn plain paper into Rs 500 notes. The imposter asked him to contact one Sunil Biswal in Khantapada area and gave the latter’s phone number and address to Santosh. Accordingly, Santosh contacted Sunil on the given phone number and tried to strike a deal to buy the chemical.
As per discussion, Santosh withdrew Rs 70,000 from an ATM and handed the cash over to Sunil and later paid Rs 40,000 through the payment app PhonePe. After receiving the money, Sunil refused to give him any such chemical and thrashed Santosh before driving him away. Realising that he had been duped, Santosh left for Sonepur, the district headquarters of Subarnapur district, and lodged a complaint online with Khantapada police station, Wednesday. Police conducted a probe and arrested Sunil while seizing a mobile phone from his possession. A manhunt is on to nab the imposter, police added.
