Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha Police arrested one more fraudster from Chhattisgarh in connection with a bank cheque cloning case involving over Rs 9.6 crore.
The accused was identified as Brajesh Mishra, Proprietor of Mishra Enterprises and Mahakal Construction. After being arrested in Chhattisgarh, he was brought to Bhubaneswar on the strength of transit remand. The accused will be produced before the court of PO, Designated Court under OPID Act, Balasore on Friday.
The EOW took over the case from Bhanjapur Police Station in Mayurbhanj district in 2024 which was registered on the written allegation of Sujata Kanungo, Chief Manager, Bank of India, Baripada. It was alleged that illegal transactions of Rs9,56,76,600/- had been made from the account of District Mineral Foundation Trust of Zilla Parishad, Mayurbhanj maintained with Bank of India, Baripda Branch by producing four cheques on April 10 and 18 in 2024.
During investigation, it was found that the saving account of Zilla Parishad, Mayurbhanj was being maintained with Bank of India, Baripada Branch in the name of District Mineral Foundation Trust. The fraudsters by producing forged/clone cheques managed to transfer Rs 9,56,76,600/- in total to two different accounts in the name of PT Constructions & Supplier maintained with Bank of Maharashtra and S K Enterprises maintained with Punjab & Sindh Bank.
These amounts were found further diverted/transferred to many other accounts from the accounts of PT Constructions & Supplier and S K Enterprises. Out of the illegally transferred amount, Rs.5,04,06,900/- was blocked and Rs.13,56,948/- lying in 33 accounts have been frozen.
Accused Brajesh Mishra was found to be the proprietor/ signatory authority of both Mishra Enterprises and Mahakal Construction. An amount of Rs 98,30,158/- and Rs 49,19,920/- have been transferred from the account of PT Construction & Suppliers to the accounts of Mishra Enterprises and Mahakal Construction respectively. Out of this amount, Rs.14.19 lakh was transferred to his own account and the rest amount to different accounts with ill intention.
This accused is a member of a larger gang having complex networking in different States like Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha. After his arrest, EOW has got important clues about the entire gang. They are doing these scams for last 4 years. They have been doing it by adopting deceitful methods from cheque cloning to multi-layering of money transfers, creating and operating multiple bank accounts, withdrawing money in different layer and using information networking and even using the local touts etc.
Earlier, three accused persons namely Pomesh Tembhare, Ghanshyam Ahuja and Ajmir Mondal were arrested from Madhya Pradesh, Chhattishgarh and West Bengal respectively.
During investigation, many incriminating clues have been arrived at which are under investigation to reach out to the other fraudsters including the boss of this gang. Further investigation is underway.
