Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha Police has arrested three women bank officials of State Bank of India (SBI) for their alleged involvement in a major loan fraud, involving the sanction of fake Xpress Credit personal loans worth crores of rupees.
The arrested individuals are Baishakhi Saha, Charubala Dandasena, and Sarita Paikaray. They were taken into custody on Tuesday. An earlier accused, Smruti Ranjan Mohanty, who reportedly acted as a middleman in arranging loanees with fabricated documents, was arrested on May 20, and remanded to judicial custordy, an EOW release said.
The Alleged Scam
According to a complaint filed by Shiba Sundar Sahoo, Regional Manager of SBI’s Regional Business Office in Bhubaneswar, the accused persons allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy and sanctioned 282 Xpress Credit Loans worth Rs 13.92 crore between May 2022 and November 2023. These loans were disbursed from four SBI branches in Bhubaneswar: Rail Vihar (150 loans), Fortune Tower (115), Patia (8), and Damana (9).
The loans were granted based on fake and fabricated documents, including salary certificates, employment details, bank statements, and KYC papers, falsely portraying the borrowers as employees of reputed organisations such as Tata Steel Ltd, TPCODL, Vedanta Ltd, Dharmara Port, and Aarati Steels Ltd, among others.
After availing the loans through fraudulent means, the borrowers stopped repaying the EMIs, causing the accounts to turn into Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) with an outstanding amount of Rs 6,88,29,323.
Role of the Arrested Officials
>> Baishakhi Saha, who was posted as Service Manager at SBI’s Rail Vihar Branch during 2022-2023and later worked as Assistant Manager at RBO-2 South, Bhubaneswar, allegedly processed 143 loans worth around Rs 6.22 crore in collusion with the branch manager, middlemen, and others by accepting forged documents as genuine.
>> Charubala Dandasena, who served as Service Manager at SBI’s Damana Square Branch, allegedly handled 9 loans amounting to Rs 30.17 lakh in a similar manner.
>> Sarita Paikaray, posted as Branch Manager at the same Damana Square Branch, allegedly sanctioned these 9 loans worth Rs 30.17 lakh while in conspiracy with others.
The loans subsequently became bad debts due to non-repayment. SBI’s internal investigation revealed serious lapses, gross violations of the bank’s rules and circulars by these officials, leading to their suspension.
During the probe, incriminating documents, including forged salary certificates, employment proofs, bank statements, and KYC papers were seized. Further investigation is underway.
