Bhubaneswar, Jun 16: The Commissionerate Police on Monday arrested a person on charges of duping several job aspirants of over Rs 43 lakh on the pretext of employing private and government agencies.

The accused, identified as Debasish Das, 36, is a resident of Govindpur under Dhamnagar police limits in Bhadrak district. He was currently staying at Kesura under the Badagada police station area of Bhubaneswar. Police arrested him in connection with a case registered on June 14, following allegations by one S Kahna Achari of Ganjam district.

Achari, in his complaint, alleged that he came across a job‑related advertisement on Google in 2023. Later, he contacted Das through the phone number mentioned in the advertisement. The accused assured him of facilitating employment with private companies and under various government schemes, such as the Pradhan Mantri Vishwakarma Yojana.

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The complainant, along with some of his friends who were also seeking jobs, met Das, who later introduced them to Jyotiranjan Paikray. Through various assurances, the two accused won the trust of Achari and his friends.

Subsequently, the victims deposited a total of Rs 43,33,000 in instalments in the bank accounts shared by the fraudsters on WhatsApp.

However, even after two years, neither Das nor Paikray was able to provide any jobs to the complainant or his associates. When the complainant and his friends approached the accused persons and demanded either the promised jobs or a refund of their money, the accused allegedly refused to return the amount.

The fraudsters were also accused of abusing the complainants in obscene language and threatening them with dire consequences if they continued to demand their money back.

Finding no other way, they finally approached the police seeking action against the fraudsters. Acting on their complaint, the Badagada Police arrested Das from the Kesura area of the city on Monday.

He was later produced before the court, which sent him to judicial custody. Police sources further asserted that efforts are on to arrest the absconding accused Paikray.

(IANS)