On Saturday (3rd August), Odisha’s Commissionerate Police arrested a 36-year-old man on the charges of duping multiple women on the pretext of marriage. According to police, the accused has been identified as Satyajit Managovind Samal. He married 5 women and was in touch with another 49 women through matrimonial sites.
As per reports, he used to trap his victims including divorced women and widows through matrimonial sites by introducing himself as an Inspector of Odisha Police or Intelligence Bureau Inspector. After traping his targets, he used to take their money, gold and other valuables. And after duping his victims, he used to flee to Dubai. When he ran out of money after spending a luxurious time in Dubai, he used to come back to loot his next victim.
After receiving complaints against him, the Police initiated Operation Maznoo and a lady police officer started interacting with him pretending to be a rich woman. She then lured him to visit Odisha to meet her and when he arrived in Bhubaneshwar, the police took him into custody.
Apart from arresting him, the Police also seized Rs 2.10 lakh cash, a car, a motorcycle, one small arm and ammunition from the possession of the accused. Additionally, they have frozen his bank accounts with balances totaling Rs 1.75 lakh. They have also seized two marriage agreement documents.
The Police Commissioner Sanjeeb Panda explained the Modus operandi of the arrested accused. According to the senior Police officer, the accused used to introduce himself as an Inspector of Odisha Police or Intelligence Bureau Inspector to widows and divorced women and lured them to marry him.
Panda said, “The accused is a native of Jajpur district and staying in the Chandrasekharpur area of Bhubaneswar.” He added, “The accused used to target divorcees and used to chat with them on matrimonial website. After entering into a marriage agreement, he used to take cash and vehicles from the victims.”
Panda said, “After chatting with victims on matrimonial websites, the accused took cash and vehicles. After committing the crime, Satyajit used to move to Dubai and spend time there.”
Police said that the accused also used to take loans in the name of his wives and buy cars with the loan money. He was minting money by giving these cars on rent. He married five women and from them, he looted their gold ornaments, deposits, and other valuables worth lakhs of rupees. During verification, his phone records revealed that he was in contact with 49 more girls on the matrimonial websites.
Notably, the Capital Police Station received a complaint in this matter on 26th February. He has been arrested based on the complaint filed by two victims. According to the complainants, he looted more than Rs 36 lakh from the first victim, and Rs 8 lakh along with an Enfield Motorcycle from the second victim.
As per the complaint of the first woman, she came in contact with the accused Satyajit through a matrimonial site and soon they started chatting. They also met regularly, which led to a love relationship. Later, the accused forced her into a physical relationship on the pretext of marriage and demanded money to purchase a car.
According to the complaint, she then took a personal loan from the State Bank of India and purchased a Baleno car for the accused. It is also alleged that she gave Rs 36 lakh cash to the accused Satyajit by taking multiple personal loans. She alleged that the accused threatened to kill her at gunpoint when she asked him to return her money and car.
During the investigation, police found that Satyajit took Rs 27 lakh cash in different ways, including a Baleno car that cost Rs 8.15 lakh. She took personal loans from HDFC Bank, Bandhan Bank, ICICI, and SBI to fulfil the demands of the accused.
Furthermore, the police found that the accused had trapped another working woman in Bhubaneswar. He took Rs 8.60 lakh and a Royal Enfield Interceptor worth about Rs. 3,50,000 from her.
Based on criminal intelligence and technical support, the Capital Police arrested the accused. He has been charged under sections 417, 419, 420, 506 of the IPC and Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act.
According to sources, a lady officer interacted with the accused Satyajit, who used to flee to Dubai after duping women. During ‘Operation Maznoo’, the police traced him in Dubai where he worked with a company. A policewoman who projected herself as a rich woman started chatting with him for several days and was finally able to trap him. The accused was arrested as he arrived in Bhubaneswar to meet the policewoman.
