Ex-Andhra Bank Manager Among 3 Arrested In Rs 7Cr Fraud In Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch on Wednesday arrested three persons including a former Andhra Bank Manager in connection with fraud of Rs 7 crore in Bhubaneswar.

The accused have been identified as former Andhra Bank Manager Prafulla Kumar Sadangi and two others – Monoj Mohapatra and Ambika Prasad Mohanty. Mohapatra is a resident of Naupada in Cuttack and Mohanty hails from Bomikhal in Bhubaneswar. They are partners in a real estate firm, Hindustan Developers.

All the accused were forwarded to a court in Cuttack.

The arrests were made on a complaint lodged by Ratikanta Samal of Satabdi Nagar against Sadangi.

According to the complaint, Sadangi lured him and 160 other investors into depositing Rs 7 crore in the Andhra Bank Employees Housing Cooperative Society for purchasing plots at Hindustan Valley Projects of the Society located at Madanpur Mouza.

He is the secretary of Andhra Bank Employees Housing Co-operative Society.

After receiving the amount, Sadangi directed Manoj Kumar Mahapatra and Ambika Prasad Mohanty to register plots.

Although the property dealers executed sale deeds to the investors during 2009-11, they failed to deliver the possession of the plots, the complainant added.

The investigation revealed that Sadangi had formed the society for the purpose of selling housing plots at a lower price to Andhra Bank employees. An account was opened in the name of the society at Andhra Bank, Chandrasekharpur Branch and Sadangi was authorised to operate the account.