Bhubaneswar, July 17 : The Odisha Police has arrested two fraudsters from Cuttack on the charges of duping a woman of Rs 1.56 crore on the pretext of lucrative income through investment in various online gaming platforms, informed the Crime Branch on Thursday.

The accused persons, identified as Kamadev Rout and Bikram Kumar Jethi, hail from Dhenkanal district.

The crime branch sources further stated that the 38-year-old complainant, Mamata Rout of Salipur area in Cuttack district, came into contact with the accused duo in February 2024. The fraudsters later lured the complainant to invest in online gaming platforms, including world.net, bounty game.in, ubitcoin staking opportunity, ride BNB, HAHM.

The fraudsters first made sure the complainant received returns that were twice the amount invested in the fake gaming platforms.

Rout has invested a total of Rs 1.56 crore in different bank accounts supplied by the accused duo between February 2024 and February 2025.

'Preliminary investigation reveals that the accused persons, Kamadev, Bikram and their associates, had assured the victim of a high value return on investment and thus lured her to transfer Rs 57,39,471 to 10 different bank accounts furnished by the accused persons. Besides cash, Rs 98,60,529 was also given by the victim to the accused persons on different dates,' added the CB official.

When the complainant Rout asked the fraudsters to return her money, the duo avoided her. Finding no other way, she finally complained to the Crime Branch, which initiated an investigation into the matter, registering a case on July 7.

The sleuths during the analysis of financial transactions found amounts of Rs 14,77,000 and Rs 8,45,046 have been transferred to the accounts of accused Kamadev and Bikram, respectively, from February 2024 to February 2025 from the accounts of the complainant and her friend Kshirendra Kumar Sahoo.

'The accused persons, Kamadev and Bikram, to further extract money from the victim, contacted her over the phone and came down to Cuttack on 16.07.2025 and 17.07.2025 and were apprehended by the team of CID Crime Branch,' noted CB.

The cops also seized electronic gadgets, including the mobile phones of the accused persons. The sleuths further came to know that Kamadev and Bikram have purchased several immovable properties like land, a vehicle and gold ornaments at Bhubaneswar and Jharkhand.

/IANS