BHUBANESWAR: The state crime branch on Thursday arrested V Sarbeswar Rao, a close aide of Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahy, for his alleged role in cheating several youths on the pretext of giving them jobs in Tata Motors. Panigrahy and suspended Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Abhay Kant Patha’s son Akash were earlier arrested in the high profile scam.
Rao, a retired principal of a college in Berhampur, was grilled by the crime branch for about five hours before his arrest. Rao’s name cropped up in the scam after the Crime Branch recently questioned David Peter, personal assistant of Akash, who had posed himself as a top executive of Tata Motors and distributed fake appointment letters to several job aspirants.
“We have found strong evidence against Rao in the job fraud. He was looking after the MLA’s business matters. Panigrahy and Rao arranged gullible job aspirants and sent their biodatas to Akash. Since Rao used to work as a principal in a college, he brought several students near Panigrahy by promising them jobs in Tata Motors. Some duped students also gave statement against Rao,” a senior crime branch officer said.
Rao was arrested hours after Panigrahy was sent back to the judicial custody at Jharpada special jail here by the crime branch following completion of his two-day police remand on Thursday. Panigrahy reiterated before the media that he was innocent and was falsely implicated in the case.
Meanwhile, a court on Thursday allowed the commissionerate police to take Akash on four-day police remand for interrogation in connection with a cheating case registered against him at Kharavel Nagar police station on December 1. A tour operator had lodged a complaint against Akash alleging non-payment of his dues to the tune of Rs 65.16 lakh. Akash had booked chartered flights and hotels worth Rs 2.78 crore through the travel agency in Kharavel Nagar area since June 2020. Akash reportedly paid nearly Rs 2.13 crore and refused to clear the dues.
“We have formed a special team to interrogate Akash and elicit more information,” deputy commissioner of police Umashankar Dash said.