3 including 2 Navy personnel held for extorting money from Agniveer aspirants in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Police arrested three persons including two serving Navy personnel in Khurda district, on the charge of extorting money from Agniveer aspirants during a recruitment drive in November 2024, an officer said on Friday.

The arrested persons were identified as Satyam Chahar, currently working at INS Kesari, Andaman and Nicobar, Vinay Kumar Ray, presently posted at INS Chilika and retired Navy official Bhoosan, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, the officer said.

The trio were arrested based on a complaint lodged by Lieutenant Commander Adwitiya Singh, a training correspondence officer at INS Chilka, at Balugaon police station on April 19. The case was registered under charges of cheating and extortion.

Khurda SP Sagarika Nath said that the arrested trio was accused of extorting a huge amount of money from Agniveer aspirants by promising them assistance in police verification, physical examination, and securing a job.

"We have arrested three people and in search of two others allegedly involved in the scam. Hope to nab the remaining two soon," Nath told PTI, adding that the police have informed the Navy to verify whether any candidate fraudulently got into Agniveer.

The SP said police have seized several transaction proofs and bank documents during the course of their investigation. "Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused had been collecting huge money from job seekers with false promises of getting them employment in the Navy. Further investigation is in progress to ascertain the exact network of the scam.

She said police have also seized some transaction proofs and bank documents during the course of their investigation.

"As per intelligence inputs, two more persons are suspected to be involved in the racket. Police have so far frozen 12 bank accounts linked to the fraudulent activities," the SP said.