Bhubaneswar, Mar 26: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha Crime Branch has arrested five accused persons, including a Home Guard, in connection with a bank fraud case involving Rs.3.50 crore.
They have been booked under sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, and 120-B of the IPC and were produced before the designated court under the OPID Act, Cuttack, on Wednesday.
The arrested individuals have been identified as Dhananjay Prusty, Nirapada Karmakar, Benudhar Singh, Surendra Kumar Beura, Niranjan Satpathy, and Rinarani Satpathy.
According to EOW sources, the case was registered based on a written complaint by Bhabani Shankar Mohanty, Regional Manager, SBI, Regional Office, Cuttack.
The complaint alleged that Dhananjay Prusty and Surendra Kumar Beura had initially formed a partnership firm named M/s Maa Ganga Enterprise. However, both partners later resigned and transferred ownership to Jonaki Karmakar and Sarat Chandra Swain.
After taking over the firm, the new partners applied for a credit facility—an Asset Backed Loan (ABL) of Rs.3.50 crore from SBI—by fraudulently mortgaging the property of Sarat Chandra Swain.
The accused managed to secure the loan by submitting forged land documents. The fraud was exposed when the real landowner, Sarat Chandra Swain, attempted to sell his property, and the bank withheld the sale proceeds.
The arrested individuals orchestrated the fraud and, in conspiracy with other accused persons, successfully availed the loan from SBI in favor of Janoki Karmakar. The loan amount was subsequently misappropriated by the accused and their associates.
During house searches, EOW officials seized several incriminating materials from the possession and residences of the accused, including Rs.51,100 in cash, various sale deeds, Record of Rights (RoR) documents, Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, ATM cards, and bank passbooks.
Additionally, fake Indian currency notes in denominations of Rs.200, Rs.100, Rs.50, and Rs.10, amounting to Rs. 5,290, were also recovered.
One of the accused, Niranjan Satpathy, is currently employed as a Home Guard in UPD, Bhubaneswar.
The investigation is ongoing. (UNI)
