Katak, July 19: Two youths, including a law graduate and an engineer, were arrested on Sunday for allegedly defrauding people by promising to clear pending traffic challans at discounted rates through fake social media pages and issuing forged court receipts as proof of payment, police said.

The accused have been identified as Raja Das (29), a resident of Dolasahi under Tihidi police station in Bhadrak district, and Rajat Kumar Lenka (26), from Balajitpada village under the Bhadrak Rural police station limits. Raja holds B.A. and LL.B. degrees, while Rajat has completed B.Tech. and MBA qualifications.

The fraud came to light after Baishnab Behera filed a complaint stating that he had discovered Facebook and Instagram pages titled "All India RTO Challan," which claimed to help motorists across the country settle pending traffic challans at concessional rates.

According to police, Behera initially contacted the operators through Facebook Messenger before being asked to continue the conversation on WhatsApp. Trusting their claims, he shared details of traffic challans issued to his relatives and transferred the amount demanded by the accused.

To convince victims that the challans had been cleared, the accused allegedly issued forged court receipt book as proof of payment. The deception was uncovered when the complainant presented the receipts before a court, where officials confirmed that the documents were fake. He subsequently lodged a police complaint.

During the investigation, police found that the accused had allegedly cheated the complainant of Rs 2.70 lakh. Technical evidence and an analysis of bank transactions helped investigators trace the suspects, leading to their arrest.

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