Bhubaneswar: For Borada Sudheer (26) from Visakhapatnam, old habits die hard. Notorious as a habitual imposter with multiple arrests in Odisha, he was nabbed again by Bhubaneswar police on Friday for allegedly duping a businessman of Rs 42,000 by posing as an IAS officer.Police said Sudheer walked into an upscale sunglasses showroom in Saheed Nagar here on Thursday and picked up a pair of AI glasses worth Rs 42,000.“He flashed a screenshot of an online payment to the store manager. When the manager pointed out that the money had not been credited, Sudheer claimed it was a glitch in internet banking and assured him that the money would be credited within an hour,” a senior police officer said.He then produced an identity card, introducing himself as an IAS officer serving as Bhubaneswar sub‑collector. Convinced by the act, the manager noted his phone number and let him leave. Later that night, realising the payment was fake, the manager lodged a complaint at Saheed Nagar police station.“Based on CCTV footage and call records, we tracked him down and arrested him from Raj Mahal area on Friday afternoon,” the police officer said.Verification revealed Sudheer’s involvement in four similar cases—two in Bhubaneswar and two in Jagatsinghpur district. Each time, he returned to crime after securing bail.He was first arrested by Chandrasekharpur police in Bhubaneswar on March 20, 2022, for allegedly producing a fake online transaction of Rs 12,000 at a luxury hotel where he stayed and dined for a day.On Sept 7, 2022, he duped Paradeep police in Jagatsinghpur district. “Sudheer walked into the police station, posed as a Kolkata police officer, and citing internet banking issues, convinced staff to arrange a cab and flight ticket. He never repaid the money and was arrested days later,” the officer recalled.The other two cases—at Kharavel Nagar police station on Feb 22, 2024, and at Tirtol police station in Jagatsinghpur on Dec 10, 2024—involved similar acts of cheating and impersonation.
