Bhubaneswar, Sept 15: In a major breakthrough against cybercrime, the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Police Commissionerate has arrested three persons from Rourkela for duping a Cuttack-based man of ₹13.72 lakh through an online investment scam.

The accused have been identified as Abinash Ojha (35), an employee associated with Paytm and NSDL; Jagan Sahoo (24), working with Airtel and Jio Payments Bank; and Pratik alias Sidharth Chaurasia (21), a SIM card seller. All three hail from Rourkela.

Police sources said Ojha facilitated the opening and sale of multiple bank accounts to fraudsters, while Sahoo arranged pre-activated SIM cards and account kits, which were couriered to cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Gujarat, and Rajasthan. Chaurasia supplied SIM cards to support the racket.

The case originated after a Jagatpur resident lodged a complaint on July 6, 2025, alleging that a woman named Nisha Singh had contacted him via Telegram, luring him with a scheme to double his money by posting Google reviews for a cryptocurrency company. Between May 16 and May 29, he transferred ₹13,72,070 before realising it was a fraud.

A special investigation team, led by SI L. Sahoo, analysed bank transactions, login data, CDRs, SDRs, and IPDRs to trace the culprits. With assistance from Rourkela police, all three were arrested and brought to Cuttack.

Earlier, on September 6, 2025, another accused, Anurag Pattanaik (21) of Rourkela, had been arrested in connection with the same scam.

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