Two held for cheating scribe over rented house in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: Taking advantage of the surge in demand for rented accommodation in the capital city, two youths in a bid to make easy money, allegedly duped a journalist of Rs 7,000 on the pretext of providing him a house on rent.

The accused, Manoj Behera (24) and Satya Prakash Dalei (21), both residents of Malandapur in Jajpur district were arrested on Monday. They had allegedly duped Sunil Kumar Mohanty of Rs 7,000 on the promise of providing him a rented accommodation near Maharshi College in Saheed Nagar area.

As per Mohanty’s complaint, the duo had uploaded random photographs of houses on an online marketplace mentioning they were available on rent. Basing on one such advertisement, he contacted them on April 4. During their interaction, one of them claimed he was the owner of the house and worked as an advocate in the Orissa High Court.

The rent was fixed at Rs 8,000 per month and Mohanty made an online payment of Rs 7,000 as advance. The duo promised him of showing him the house the same evening but later switched off their mobile phones, police said.

“Behera and Dalei had recently shifted to Bhubaneswar. They were arrested and three mobile phones along with six ATM cards were seized from them,” said an officer of Saheed Nagar police station.

Police are investigating whether the duo has cheated some other citizens in a similar manner.