The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a case against Ramesh Swain, also known as Bibhu Prakash Swain, considered to be one of the biggest imposters of Odisha who was arrested by the state police last year on charges of marrying 27 women in 10 states and cheating them of lakhs of rupees.
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An ED official said the agency is in touch with the state police to access the documents seized from the suspect that would indicate how the 66-year-old laundered the proceeds of crime over the years. The official added that Swain’s financial transactions will be investigated and that the agency may seek his remand for questioning at some point.
Arrested in 2006 and 2011 in cheating case
Swain was arrested in 2011 on charges of cheating people in Hyderabad of Rs.2 crore, promising seats in MBBS courses for their children, and earlier in 2006 for allegedly defrauding 13 banks in Kerala of Rs. 1 crore through 128 forged credit cards. In the Odisha case, police also arrested one of Swain’s wives, Dr. Kamala Sethi, his stepsister and driver. All of them have been granted bail by Orissa high court.
Wives include Doctor, Advocate, CA and ITBP Assistant Commandant
His wives include Assistant Commandant of ITBP, Doctor residing in Assam, Chartered Accountant from Chhattisgarh, Advocate of Delhi High Court officer of Kerala Administrative Service etc. A police officer, who interrogated him, said Swain is also said to have rented at least three apartments in Bhubaneswar, where he would keep three wives at the same time. His wives told the police that he would often tell his wives to lend him money and once he got the money, the search for the next wife would begin.
Arrested on complaint by one of the 27 wives
Swain was arrested on February, 13 by a special squad of Odisha police that had been tracking him for eight months. He was arrested based on a complaint filed by one of his wives, a Delhi-based woman, in May 2021. She met him through a matrimony site in 2018 and got married. He had claimed to be the deputy director general in the health ministry.
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