Chandbali: More than 10 days after a female collection agent of a finance company reached out to Chandbali police in Bhadrak district complaining of loot, the cops cracked the case and arrested the woman along with her lover for embezzling funds of her employer and trying to cover it up as loot.
According to the police, the female employee concocted the loot story in connivance with her lover. Both the accused were arrested 8:00pm Friday and produced in a local court. They were remanded in judicial custody as their bail pleas were rejected.
Her employer Annapurna Finance Company had appointed the woman as a collection agent after opening its branch in Chandbali.
The woman hailing from Rasuna Baruan village under Jajpur Sadar police limits fell in love with Sushil Kumar Swain of Raghunathpur village under Simulia police limits in Balasore district after coming in contact with him through Facebook during her service period.
They had decided to marry. Sushil, however, needed some money to complete his half-constructed house at his village. They hatched a conspiracy to embezzle the company funds. In order to get away with it, they concocted the loot drama, police said.
According to the plan, the woman was going to Chandbali from Madhapur carrying more money than the usual to deposit at the office. Meanwhile, Sushil came to Madhapur on a motrocycle. He purchased red chilli powder, cumin powder and some other powders from a shop at Ramserpur square so as not to be doubted.
On a secluded place along the road, the woman handed him the cash stashed bag and mobile phone over and sprinkle red chili powder on her scooter to make the drama seem real. She then registered a complaint with the police station alleging that a miscreant had snatched her bag containing collection money away while she was en route to office.
Even as Mato outpost is nearer to the spot, the woman went to Chandbali police station, which is 10 kilometres away to register her complaint.
This single fault provided the Chandbali police a lead. After registering a case (Case No-175/19), they furthered their investigation by retrieving the call details from the woman’s mobile phone and tracking her mobile number.
Thursday night Chandbali IIC Tapas Pradhan and Mato outpost OIC Muhammad Hafiz along with their team conducted a raid on Sushil’s house at Raghunathpur and took him to the police station.
During interrogation, Sushil admitted to have used the loot money in repaying outstanding money at cement and iron rod shops and buried his lover’s mobile phone after getting its sim card out.
The woman then was summoned and during interrogation she also confessed to have played the drama to usurp the money. They tried to settle the matter promising to return the whole amount, but it did not cut any ice with the police following which they were produced in the court.
