Central Bank’s Former Manager & Ex-Agri Finance Officer Held For Rs 3.33 Cr Fraud In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing, Bhubaneswar, has arrested two persons in connection with a bank fraud amounting to Rs 3.33 crore.

The accused have been identified as Dambarudhar Nayak and Devidutta Panigrahy, former manager and former agricultural finance officer respectively of Central Bank’s Bhadreswar Branch in Cuttack. They were nabbed from Keonjhar and Bhubaneswar respectively on December 7.

According to an EOW release, the duo was arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by Regional Head of Central Bank of India, Regional Office, Bhubaneswar, Anadi Biswas, alleging unauthorised sanction and fraudulent transactions in Central Kisan Credit Cards (CKCC) and Term Loan accounts apart from illegal diversion of government subsidy, causing a loss of Rs 3,33,52,602.03 to the bank.

While Nayak has already been dismissed by the bank, disciplinary action has been initiated against Panigrahi.

“Both the arrested during their incumbency at Bhadreswar branch of bank entered into a conspiracy and illegally sanctioned/diverted Rs 85,49,941 in 68 CKCC accounts, Rs 1,49,18,103 in 24 Term Loan accounts, Rs 15,60,000 of subsidy amount of 8 borrowers of Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme and Rs 83,24,558.03 towards 114 irregular transactions in bank’s profit and loss accounts. 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 also raised the limit of the loans fraudulently beyond the knowledge of the borrowers. They deliberately created and used the forged documents to sanction the loans and misappropriated all the money,” the release further said.

Many incriminating documents, including the loan documents, were seized during investigation. Further investigation is underway, it added.