Four held in Rs 8.1 cr bank fraud case in Odisha

Bhubaneswar, April 21 (IANS) The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Monday arrested four fraudsters in connection with a Rs 8.1 crore bank fraud case here, officials said.

The EOW in a press statement revealed that accused persons -- Smruti Ranjan Sethy and M. Dibyashree Jyoti Ranjan -- were arrested from Jagatsinghpur district while the police officers nabbed accused -- Niranjan Behera and Debasish Behera -- from Nayapalli area of Bhubaneswar.

These arrested were in connection with a case registered on the written report of Shiba Sundara Sahoo, Regional Manager, State Bank of India, Regional Business Office, Bhubaneswar, on April 7.

Sahoo in his complaint alleged that the accused persons by entering into a conspiracy availed 234 Xpress credit loans amounting to Rs 8.1 crore from different branches of the State Bank of India during 2021 and 2023 using fake and fabricated documents.

They produced forged employment records as employees of different organisations like Capital Trust Ltd., Corporate Infotech Pvt. Ltd., Falcon Marine Exports Ltd., G4S Secure Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Global Innovsource Solutions, Innovsource Services Pvt. Ltd., Muthoot Microfin Ltd., Narayana Hrudayalaya Ltd., Orion Security Services Solutions Pvt. Ltd. etc.

"The accused persons in connivance with the loanees and others managed to avail 234 Xpress Credit loans meant for the corporate sector in favour of 234 different ineligible individuals by producing fake/fabricated employment records like salary certificate, employment details, bank statements and KYC documents. After availing the loan by fraudulent means, the loanees stopped making payment of the EMI and the loan accounts became NPA leaving the outstanding amount of Rs 4,77,96,009," the EOW said.

During the investigation, the policemen also ascertained that Rs 19,08,385, Rs 2.42 lakh, Rs 94,000 and Rs 50,000 have been transferred to the accounts of Smruti Ranjan, Dibyashree, Niranjan and Debasish respectively, from the loan account of the loanees.

The police also added that the accused persons were acting as middlemen in preparing the fake documents for financial gain.

Police during the arrest of the accused have also seized many incriminating materials like one laptop and five mobile phones, etc. from their possession.

The accused were on Monday produced before the Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors court, Cuttack, that later sent them to 14-day judicial custody.

--IANS

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