The Special Task Force (STF) wing of the Crime Branch arrested a highly qualified man who posed as a Vigilance Officer to fleece engineers, contractors mainly from the Civil Construction Departments, said officials on Sunday.
The accused Manoj Majhi is MSc in Chemistry and has PhD Degree from Sambalpur University, STF said.
He was arrested from Krushnaprasad area in Puri district after he posing as SP Vigilance, demanded Rs 1 crore from the complainant who is said to be an Additional Chief Engineer and other persons.
“During interrogation, the accused admitted that he was trying to extort money from various government officials as well as some contractors by impersonating a senior vigilance officer. It is also ascertained that the accused had cheated some persons promising to arrange government jobs,” STF said in a statement.
The accused tried to extort senior officials including superintendent engineers, Executive Engineers, Special Secretary to Engineer-in-Chief, District Child Programme officers, and project directors of District Rural Development agencies.