Transgender Poses as Odisha Minister, Dupes Money from Pvt Hospital Manager

Bhubaneswar: A transgender identified as Soumya Ranjan Pradhan alias Lucky alias Sulagna was arrested by Cuttack Police for allegedly impersonating as the state Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment to dupe the manager of a private hospital in Cuttack of Rs 46,500.

The arrested transgender hails from Kishore Nagar in Angul district of Odisha.

It is alleged that on September 7, this transgender called up the manager of the private hospital in Cuttack claiming that he was the personal assistant of the Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment. Later on the transgender also made another call posing as the minister, and asked her to speak to a woman seer, Maa Sibani Durga. The fraudster then handed over the phone to a woman who said that she needed 31 kg pure ghee for a ‘hawan’ and directed the hospital manager to donate Rs 46,000 immediately for the purpose.

The gullible hospital manager did not check up the authenticity of the caller and transferred Rs 46,500 from her account to the UPI ID provided by the ‘woman seer’.

When the hospital manager realized that she had been conned, she lodged a complaint with the police.

Tracking the UPI transaction, the police nabbed the accused transgender. During interrogation, the arrested transgender admitted of committing similar crime several times in the past impersonating as senior government officials, doctors, politicians etc.