Berhampur: Aska police in Ganjam district on Saturday arrested a 56-year-old man for allegedly cheating people on the pretext of giving loans by mortgaging their valuables, around a fortnight after their Gajapati counterparts nabbed a person on similar charges and seized 137 motorcycles and 127 mobile phones, duped from his victims.As many as 17 motorcycles, 18 mobile phones, 15 ATM cards of various banks, 15 driving licences, a diary containing several names and around Rs 31,000 cash were seized from the possession of accused Laxman Kumar Pani of Mamudiha village under Aska police station, police said.Police added that the accused was allegedly luring people into depositing their motorcycles, mobile phone sets, land title deeds, vehicle documents, and other valuable articles with him on the pretext of providing loans.An FIR was lodged against him on Friday based on a complaint filed by one of his alleged victims from his village, who had deposited his motorcycle, worth around Rs 80,000, to obtain a loan of Rs 15,000 about three months ago. It was allegedly agreed he would pay interest at the rate of 3% per month. The accused also allegedly took his vehicle registration certificate forcibly and made him sign on a blank stamp paper. When he wanted to release his vehicle by repaying the loan amount, Pani allegedly refused to return it.Aska police station inspector in charge S K Sahu said after registering a case, they raided his home and seized the valuables. Preliminary inquiry revealed he took the valuables, including motorcycles, mobile phones and several other documents from several people of the area on the pretext of providing loans, he said.After analysing the notebook, seized from the accused, police found he had deceived 22 people. He used to extort money from poor people by threatening them and collected exorbitant interest on loans, police said.
