Law Graduate, Engineer Arrested for Running Fake Traffic Challan Discount Scam in Odisha

Cuttack: The Commissionerate Police on Sunday arrested two young men, including a law graduate and an engineer, for allegedly operating an online fraud that lured people with promises of clearing pending traffic challans at discounted rates using fake social media accounts and forged court receipts.

The accused have been identified as Raja Das (29) of Dolasahi under Tihidi police limits in Bhadrak district and Rajat Kumar Lenka (26) of Balajitpada under Bhadrak Rural police station. Raja is a B.A. and LL.B. graduate, while Rajat holds a B.Tech degree along with an MBA.

The fraud came to light after a complainant, Baishnab Behera, approached the police alleging that he had been deceived by Facebook and Instagram pages operating under the name “All India RTO Challan.” The pages claimed they could help motorists settle pending traffic challans across the country at reduced rates.

According to police, after establishing contact through Facebook Messenger, the complainant was directed to continue the conversation on WhatsApp. Trusting the claims, he shared details of traffic challans issued to his family members and transferred the amount demanded by the accused.

To convince victims that the challans had been cleared, the duo allegedly provided forged court receipt book documents as proof of payment. The scam was exposed when the complainant produced the receipts before the court, where officials confirmed that the documents were fake.

During the investigation, police found that the accused had allegedly cheated the complainant of ₹2.70 lakh. Technical analysis and scrutiny of financial transactions helped investigators trace and apprehend the duo.

Police recovered 61 forged court receipts, three mobile phones, a laptop, 11 ATM cards, two PAN cards, and two Aadhaar cards from the accused.

Investigators suspect that several other people may have fallen prey to the racket, and efforts are underway to identify additional victims and ascertain whether more individuals were involved in the operation.

Police have urged citizens to remain cautious and avoid relying on social media pages or individuals claiming to settle traffic challans at discounted rates. They advised the public to verify and pay traffic challans only through authorised government portals and official channels.