Bhubaneswar, Dec 18: A woman, who also claimed to be the wife of a senior IPS officer, was today arrested for allegedly cheating a woman fish vendor at Unit-IV daily market.
Sonali Monalisa, 32, was arrested from the fish market after a high drama this morning when she refused to pay the vendor for buying fish, identifying herself as the wife of a high-ranking police officer.
The fish vendor, Sabita Behera, alleged that though Monalisa bought fish worth Rs 300, she refused to pay any money.
"She entered into a heated argument with me when I demanded money. Later, she threw away all the fish that were in my shop. I also suffered injuries in my finger during the fisticuffs. She said that she was the wife of a senior police officer who could make my life hell," said Behera.
Hearing the commotion, other vendors rushed to the spot and prevented Monalisa from leaving the market in her SUV. The drivers had gheraoed her for around two hours.
"She has a habit of not paying vendors after buying things. Earlier, she used to identify herself as the niece of the director general of police," said another vendor.
When police rushed to the spot to rescue Monalisa, angry vendors also resisted the officials.
"Last month, she had bought hilsa worth more than Rs 1,000, but did not pay a single penny while identifying herself as the wife of a minister," said a police officer.
The woman was later arrested and forwarded to court. "The accused was arrested under sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 341 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 294 (use of obscene language) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of Indian Penal Code," said inspector in-charge of Kharvela Nagar police station Sanjiv Satpathy.
The police also confirmed that the woman was in no way related to any IPS officer or minister.
However the woman denied all allegations and claimed that she was manhandled by the vendors. "I had ordered the fish. But, I refused to take it as it was stale. The vendors deliberately made an issue of it," she said.
