Bajaj Finance Ltd Staffer Among 3 Held For Loan Fraud In Odisha; Mastermind Absconding

Bhubaneswar: Three persons, including an employee of Bajaj Finance Limited, have been arrested for granting loans in the name of people with their knowledge.

Those arrested have been identified as Binod Kumar Sahoo, an employee of the financial firm, proprietor of Arpita Enterprises Ankit Jena and owner of Papu Interior Designer Ltd Satya Narayan Maharana. The mastermind Rashmi Ranjan Choudhury, however, is absconding.

According to police sources, they were nabbed by Mandhupatna police on Wednesday on the basis of a complaint lodged by Prabir Barik, a native of Iribina under Erasama police limits, on May 5. He had alleged that Choudhury used photocopies of his documents to fraudulently sanction two loans – Rs 43,000 and Rs 56,000 – from Bajaj Finance Limited without his knowledge. When confronted, they termed it as a mistake and assured to pay the EMI but went incommunicado after paying two instalments.

Elaborating on the modus operandi, a police officer said that the accused approached the victims on the pretext of providing a Bajaj Finance card which they can use to buy household appliances on instalment and collected their Aadhaar cards and bank documents. The loans were sanctioned by creating fake invoices of appliances in the name of the victims.

During the course of investigation, Sahoo confessed to have conspired with Choudhury, Jena and Maharana for granting the loans. They had targeted 56 people and embezzled loans amounting to Rs 12 lakh, the sources added.