Odisha: EOW arrests two in Rs 3 crore bank fraud case

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Crime Branch arrested two persons in a bank fraud amounting to Rs 3.33 crore.

The accused have been identified as Dambarudhar Nayak and Devidutta Panigrahy, respective ex-Branch Manager and ex-Agricultural Finance Officer of Central Bank of India, Bhadreswar Branch, Cuttack.

A case has been registered in this connection under Sections 409, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC and Section 66 (D) of the IT Act.

The case was registered on the allegation of Anadi Biswas, Regional Head, Central Bank of India, Regional Office, Bhubaneswar against the accused persons, who were working as Branch Manager and Agricultural Finance Officer at Central Bank of India, Bhadreswar Branch, Cuttack, respectively from 2015 to 2018.

They had alleged involvement in unauthorized sanction and fraudulent transactions in 68 Central Kisan Credit Cards and 24 Term Loan accounts apart from illegal diversion of government subsidy, causing a loss of Rs 3.33 crore to the bank.

The two accused entered into a conspiracy and illegally sanctioned/ diverted Rs.85,49,941 in 68 Central Kisan Credit Card accounts, Rs.1,49,18,103 in 24 Term Loan accounts, Rs.15,60,000 of subsidy amount of eight borrowers of Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) scheme and Rs.83,24,558.03 towards 114 irregular transactions in bank’s profit and loss accounts, EOW sources said.

They sanctioned the loan in the name of different persons/ borrowers regardless of their eligibility and also without the knowledge and consent of the borrowers. Besides, they have raised the limit of the loans fraudulently beyond the knowledge of the borrowers. They have deliberately created and used the forged documents to sanction the loans. The accused persons have misappropriated all the loan amounts, the sources added.

Dambarudhar Nayak was dismissed by the bank whereas disciplinary action has been initiated against Devidutta Panigrahi.