Odisha EOW Arrests 3 In Rs 4.13 Crore Bank Fraud Case

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing of Odisha police arrested three persons including a retired bank manager and an ex- LIC agent in a Rs 4.13 crore bank fraud case.

The accused persons were identified as Sk Abdul Hayee, retired branch manager of Nuapatna Branch; Prakash Kumar Mohapatra, former senior assistant of Christ College extension counter of Urban Cooperative Bank, Cuttack; and Md. Mustakim Raza, the loanee.

The case was registered on the allegation of Priyabrata Panda, who served as the Chief Executive Officer I/c at the Urban Cooperative Bank Ltd in Cuttack, an EOW release said on Thursday.

As per allegation, Sk. Abdul Hayee, Prakash Mohapatra colluded with three loanees and sanctioned eight loans against fake LIC policies amounting to Rs 3.82 crore between 2019 to 2021. The current outstanding amount on these loans is Rs 4.13 crore.

These two in conspiracy with the arrested loanee Md. Mustakim Raja and two others had fraudulently sanctioned 8 loans amounting to Rs.3.82 crore against the security of fake and forged LIC policies.

The accused bank authorities in violation of the banking guidelines deliberately did not verify the authenticity/genuineness of the pledged insurance policies nor did they get it ratified with the concerned branch of LIC, and moreover, sanctioned the loans showing falsely the assignment of the fake policies with LIC by manufacturing the forged documents.

Further, they went on renewing the loans by sanctioning new loans to close the previous loans. Even, the pledged insurance policies stand in the name of some other persons but it has been forged by changing the name of the policy holders to the name of the loanees.

Md. Mustakim Raza was working as an LIC agent from 2002 to 2022. He allegedly collected LIC policies from the branch that he forged by putting the name of the loanees including him. He managed to avail the loan against the forged insurance policies. And the arrested bank officials were aware of such forgery. The investigation is currently underway to nab two others in the case, the release added.