Damodar Pradhan vs State Of Odisha on 18 March, 2026

                   IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
                                 CRLMP No. 194 of 2026
                 Damodar Pradhan                           ....        Petitioner

                                               Mr. Brundaban Rout, Advocate
                                           -versus-
                 1. State of Odisha, represented through
                 its Home Department, Bhubaneswar
                 2. Director General of Police, Odisha,
                 Cuttack
                 3. Superintendent of Police, Ganjam
                 4. Inspector In-charge, Kotinada Town
                 Police station                          ....       Opp. Parties

                                                         Mr. Amitabh Pradhan,
                                                   Additional Standing Counsel

             CORAM:
                  HON'BLE MISS JUSTICE SAVITRI RATHO

                                       ORDER

Order No.                             18.03.2026
                               (Through hybrid Mode)

  03.       1.      This CRLMP has been filed with the following prayer:-

"It is, therefore, prayed that, this Hon'ble Court may graciously be pleased to consider the facts stated in the petition ,admit the same, issue notice to the Opp. Parties , calling upon them to file show cause , as to why the prayer made in this petition shall not allowed , if they failed to show cause or show insufficient cause this application may kindly be allowed thereby directing the Opp. Parties to conduct the investigation in fair and proper manner and depute a competent higher police authority to take over the investigation and also apprehend the accused persons involved in

connection with Kotinada P.S. Case No. 160 of 2023 under Annexure-1 to secure ends of justice And may pass any other order/ orders, direction/directions as this Hon'ble court may deem fit and proper;

And for this act of kindness, the petitioner as in duty bound shall ever pray."

2. As this Court was dissatisfied with the instructions dated 09.03.2026, the following order dated 11.03.2026 had been passed:-

"1. Perusal of the instructions dated 09.03.2026 reveals that after registration of Kotinada PS Case No. 160 of 17.06.2023 under Section 420/34 of IPC, the IIC, Kotinada Police Station stated that investigation of the case is going on and after completion of investigation, necessary legal action will be taken as per law. It is apparent that practically no investigation has been done in this case. It is also mentioned in the instruction, that one Santosh Kumar Panda has submitted a report at Special Crime Unit, PS- Khurda and on his report Special Crime Unit PS Case No. 8 dated 14.09.2023 under Section 467/468/471/420/34 of the IPC. This statement is prima facie incomplete. Whether it is deliberate or not is not known. It is also not mentioned in the instruction whether this case relates to the same offence and accused or similar offence.

2. Be as it may, Mr. A. K. Apat, learned Additional Government Advocate is directed to obtain instructions regarding the status of investigation of Special Crime Unit PS Case No. 8 dated 14.09.2023 and the nature of the allegations.

3. List this matter on 18.03.2026."

3. Pursuant to the said order instructions dated 16.03.2026 of the I.I.C., Kotinada Police Station are produced where it is stated as follows:-

"With reference to the case and subject cited above, I beg to submit that, on 14.9.2023 at 5.00 PM Complt Santosh Kumar Panda S/O late Kanhu Charan Panda of At/PO- Sadeipur, Raghunatha Pur Dist Jagatsinghapur submitted a report at Special Crime Unit PS Khurdha (CP headquarters BBSR) and on his report Special Crime Unit PS case No 8 dtd 14.9.2023 U/S 467/468/471/420/34 IPC was registered and ACP B Senapati was entrusted to investigate the case. in his report complt alleged that one Hiferk Technology Pvt. Ltd. with its trade name "GO SPEEDY GO" with its Directors Sachidananda Bhoi and Ankita Porwal, together have cheated his wife Gayatri Sarangi in the name of providing self-employment through PMEGP Program in the pretext of providing him an Automobile Service on Wheel. As per the assurances given by the Directors it was made to believe that the company is registered under Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and this project has been approved by various government agencies like DIC, Startup India, DIPP Certified, Startup Odisha, Confederation of Industry, MASSCOM, Soft Ware Technology Parks of India and maximum funding will be given by the Nationalized Banks with subsidy facilities by the Govt. of India and only the complt. has to arrange 5% of the margin money of the total project cost. He also made detailed conference in Hotel May Fair Convention on 6.2.22. When the complt's wife saw a prospective self- employment, she agreed and

the company took some documents and later instructed them to meet the DIC Jagatsinghpur and after the project was approved as per instruction, met the B.M, SBI Raghunathpur and the loan amount of 9.5 lakhs was sanctioned and directly transferred to the Hiferk Technology Pvt Ltd. But without the knowledge of the complt's wife money I was debited to the PMEGP loan account and Rs 82688/- was already debited from the account by 30.10.22. When the complt inquired from Sachidananda Bhoi about this he informed the complt. that the deducted EMI will be refunded to his account by GO SPEEDY GO.

But despite all efforts he didn't return the money nor he provided him the assured Tata Intra V30 vehicle as agreed whose documents the director provided which was collected by him from Johar Motors with temporary registration certificate, Insurance from Reliance. When the complt. contacted Johar Motors it was informed to him that the T.R has already been cancelled and the cheque which was issued by Sachidananda Bhoi was dishonored by the bank. Subsequently the office at Saheed Nagar, which he was running was found closed. It is further alleged that beside the complt's wife another 12 persons have also been cheated by the company and its Director Sachidananda Bhoi in the same fashion.

The case has been charge sheeted vide Special Crime Unit PS CS no 1 Dtd 11.1.2024 U/S 467/468/471/420/34 IPC against the accused Sachidananda Bhoi (47) S/O Late Kubera Bhoi of village Kendpalli PS Bheden Dist Baragarh At/Pre flat No 4064 Block terra DN Oxypark apartment, dumdum PS Khandagiri Bhubaneswar with a prayer to keeping investigation open U/S 173(8) CrPC.

On 17.6.2023 at 9.30 PM complt Damodar Pradhan S/O Dili Pradhan of college square Santi Nagar PS kotinada Dist Ganjam submitted a report at Kotinada PS. On his report the then IIC Krushna Saha registered the Kotinnda PS Case No 160 Dtd 17.6.2023 U/S 420/34 IPC and self took up investigation of the case. On his transfer S1 satyabrata Sahu was entrusted to investigate the case.

On perusal of both the records it is ascertained that accused Sachidananda Bhoi cheated the present petitioner Damodar Pradhan in same manner as he cheated the Gayatri Sarangi the wife of Santosh Kumar Panda At/PO- Sadeipur, Raghunathapur, Dist-Jagatsinghapur.

In Special Crime Unit PS case No 8 dtd 14.9.2023 U/S 467/468/471/420/34 IPC the present petitioner Damodar Pradhan name was mentioned as victim. But neither was he examined nor any document was seized from him in that case."

4. From this it is apparent that Special Crime Unit P.S. Case No. 8 was registered on 14.09.2023 and in the said case charge sheet no. 1 dated 11.01.2024 has been filed under Sections 467, 468, 471, 420, 34 of IPC against accused Sachidananda Bhoi with the prayer for keeping investigation open under Section 173(8) of Cr.P.C. But in the present case although the FIR has been registered on 17.06.2023 and a case has been registered under Section 420 and 34 of IPC practically no investigation has been done in this case and the I.O. is unable to submit relevant and up-to-date instructions to this Court. It is stated in the instructions that the accused Sachidananda Bhoi has cheated 12 other persons in similar fashion.

5. Hence, this Court is satisfied in view of the nature of allegations though there is no specific prayer for transferring the investigation to any other authority in view of the fact of absence of investigation in this case, I am satisfied that it is a fit case, where the investigation of the case should be handed over to the State Crime Branch. The records of Kotinada P.S. Case No. 160 of 2023 shall be transmitted by the I.I.C., Kotinada Police Station to the Additional Director General of Police, CID, CB, Cuttack within a period of two weeks from today. On receipt of the records, the latter shall depute a competent officer to conduct the investigation.

6. It is expected that the investigation shall be completed within a period of four months thereafter.

7. With the above direction, the CRLMP is disposed of.

8. Urgent certified copy of this order be granted on proper application.

(Savitri Ratho) Judge Sukanta

Signed by: SUKANTA KUMAR BEHERA Designation: Senior Stenographer

Location: Orissa High Court, Cuttack Date: 20-Mar-2026 22:14:45