Cuttack, Odisha — Three men from Rourkela were arrested on Monday for allegedly duping a man from Cuttack of Rs 13.7 lakh in a cryptocurrency review scam conducted via Telegram.
The accused have been identified as Abinash Ojha, Jagan Sahoo, and Pratik Chaurasia alias Sidharth Chaurasia. Police seized 3 Aadhaar cards, 6 mobile phones, 3 cheque books, and 10 bank passbooks. Additionally, 39 bank accounts and Rs 2,00,000 have been frozen as part of the investigation.
According to police, on July 6, 2025, a complainant from Jagatpur, Cuttack, reported that he was trapped through a Telegram channel. One Nisha Singh shared a link claiming users could earn double returns by posting Google reviews for an Indian cryptocurrency platform. Trusting the scheme, the complainant transferred Rs 13,72,070 between May 16 and May 29, 2025, before realizing it was a fraud and reporting the incident.
ACP-In-Charge registered the case and assigned SI L. Sahoo to investigate. Using bank and telecom data, the Cyber Police Station’s Cuttack UPD team conducted technical analysis that revealed the suspects resided in and around Rourkela. Despite mobile numbers being switched off, the team retrieved login details and analyzed bank transactions, call data records (CDR), and internet protocol data records (IPDR).
Under the supervision of the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Police Commissioner, a special investigation team was formed and, with local police support, arrested the accused in Rourkela and brought them to Cuttack for further proceedings.
Earlier, on September 6, 2025, Anurag Pattanaik (21) from Jharsuguda was also arrested in connection with the scam.
