After Banker, 2 More Arrested In Rs 8-Cr SBI Loan Fraud In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Bhubaneswar, on Sunday arrested two more persons for their alleged involvement in a bank fraud case amounting to nearly Rs 8 crore.

The accused have been identified as Samaresh Ranjan Das and Hemanta Panda. While Das is a suspended Civil Supplies Inspector and Panda is the Secretary of Smruti Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society Ltd.

Earlier, the then Manager-cum-Field Officer of Phulbani branch of State Bank of India, Asutosh Acharya, was arrested in the connection with the fraud. He had illegally recommended and processed 59 Xpress Credit Loans meant for the salaried person and 26 pension loans meant for the pensioners to the non-salaried persons and non-pensioners. Subsequently, he misappropriated Rs 8,01,87,000 by transferring the same to the account of his family members, relatives. The fraud was committed from September 2021 to September 2022, EOW said.

The loan beneficiaries included his father, mother and father-in-law (dead), who were non-pensioners and were not eligible for loan.

The loans were sanctioned on the basis of the recommendation of the accused by way of forged documents like salary slips. The sanctioned loan amounts landed in the savings accounts of the borrowers beyond their knowledge, and the amounts were further diverted to different accounts, including those of his family members, relatives and Das & Smruti Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society Ltd, Naharakanta, Balianta.

“The investigation revealed that Rs 1.46 crore and Rs 47,43,104 were directly credited to the accounts of Das and more than Rs 3 crore to the account of Smruti Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society Ltd and was misappropriated by the accused persons, who then put the same in illegal money circulation.”

The accused, a highly ambitious person intent on earning a fast buck, tried to make easy money by investing the loan amount in profitable business. To cover it up, they also paid some initial EMIs of the loans, the EOW concluded.