Retd principal close to jailed MLA arrested for job scam
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 Pathak’s son Akash were earlier arrested in the scam.
Rao, a retired principal of a college in Berhampur, was grilled for about five hours before his arrest by the Crime Branch. Rao’s name cropped up in the scam after the Crime Branch recently questioned David Peter, personal assistant of Akash, who had posed as a top executive of Tata Motors and distributed fake appointment letters to several job aspirants.
“We found strong evidence against Rao in the job fraud. He was looking after the MLA’s business. 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 to Panigrahy by promising them jobs in Tata Motors. Some duped students also gave statements 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 falsely implicated in the case.
A court here 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.