Bhubaneswar, May 23: Odisha Police personnel have arrested a "suave NRI conman" for duping highly qualified professionals of lakhs on the pretext of facilitating them get well-paid jobs abroad, Vinaytosh Mishra, DGP, Odisha Crime Branch, said on Friday.

The accused Bishnu Prasad Pattnaik alias Biranchi Narayan hails from Begunia police station area of Khordha district.

"The accused cheated a qualified aeronautical engineer, who passed out from a college in Coimbatore, to the tune of Rs 90 lakh on the pretext of providing a job in British Airways and then Lufthansa airways,” said Mishra.

The accused even created fake offer and appointment letters to deceive the victim aeronautical engineer from Gunupur.

Based on the complaint lodged by the victim, a case was registered at Gunupur police station of Rayagada district on October 29, 2018.

The Crime Branch later took up investigation into the case, registering a fresh case in this regard.

In another case registered at the Gunupur police station on September 24, 2018, the accused fraudster duped a woman of Rs 15 lakh by falsely promising to help her son, a qualified engineer in Electronic and Instrumentation Engineering, get a high-paying job in Malaysia.

The crime branch during the course of investigation into both these cases also came across the involvement of Pattnaik in another fraud case registered at the Bissamcuttack Police Station of the district on April 9, 2002.

The police have also submitted a charge sheet in the above case showing accused Pattnaik as absconding.

“It is found that he introduced himself as a medical doctor, professor, engineer etc., to his vulnerable victims and charmed them into believing the same. However, during the inquiry his credentials were known to be dubious and under investigation,” said the crime branch in a press note.

It further added that the accused created forged letters of offer and appointment under the names of international consultancy companies.

He also forged documents like address proof, driving license etc to conceal his identity and whereabouts.

“While the investigation was in progress the accused fled to Cambodia and purportedly created a second passport to conceal his identity. Look Out Circular was issued against Bishnu Prasad Pattnaik on 17.01.2019 which was requested to continue in 2020 also. To evade arrest, he has been staying in Cambodia since 2012 and claims to have started an IT Company there which is under investigation,” added the Crime Branch.

However, despite the issuance of Look Out Circular, he managed to visit Odisha often by misleading the law enforcement agencies. The cops also ascertained that Pattnaik is involved in several other cases related to job fraud in Visakhapatnam, Berhampur, Bhubaneswar and other parts of the country.

“He last came to Odisha in 2023 and his movements were kept under watch and found that he came to India in the month of May, 2025 and CB team based on tech intelligence kept surveillance and tracked down his arrival in India and arrested him from Bhubaneswar on Wednesday,” claimed Crime Branch.

Speaking to mediapersons, the Crime Branch DGP revealed that police will soon approach the court seeking remand for Pattnaik for further investigation.

--IANS

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