Bhubaneswar, July 17 (UNI) The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Odisha police on Thursday arrested two fraudsters on the charge of cheating Rs 1.56 crore from a woman in Odisha’s Cuttack district on the pretext of higher returns in online gaming platforms.
The CID sleuths acted on a complaint filed by Mamata Rout (38), a native of Balisahi village under the Salipur police station jurisdiction of Cuttack, alleging that she was cheated to the tune of Rs 1.56 crore by the accused persons for wilful adoption of deceitful means and promise of high return on investment in different online gaming platforms, including world.net, bounty game in, bitcoin staking opportunity, ride BNB, and HAHM, between Feb 2024 to Feb 2025.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused persons, Kamadev Rout, Bikram Kumar Jethi, and their associates, had assured the victim of a high-value return on investment and lured her to transfer Rs 57,39,471 to 10 different bank accounts furnished by the accused persons. Besides cash, Rs 98,60,529 was also transferred by the victim to the accused persons on different dates, informed CID officials.
On due analysis of the financial transactions of the victim and those of the accused persons, it was found that a sum of Rs 14,77,000 and Rs 8,45,046 has been transferred to the accounts of accused Kamadev Rout and Bikram Kumar Jethi, respectively, during the reported period from the account of the complainant and her friend Kshirendra Kumar Sahoo.
The accused persons, Kamadev Rout and Bikram Kumar Jethi, with the intention to further extract money from the victim, contacted her over the phone and came down to Cuttack on 16 and 17 July and were apprehended by the team of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Crime Branch.
Electronic gadgets, including mobile phones of the accused persons, were seized, and the preliminary investigation further reveals that the accused persons have purchased several immovable properties, including land, vehicles, and gold ornaments, in Bhubaneswar and Jharkhand.
The accused persons are being forwarded to the designated court in Cuttack under the Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors (OPID) Act.
Further investigation is in process to trace out the links of accused persons and to find out their investment in this case, they concluded.
