Odisha EOW Makes 3rd Arrest In Rs 9 Cr Bank Of India Cheque Cloning Case

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Odisha, has arrested one more fraudster in connection with Rs 9 crore Bank of India cheque cloning case.

The arrested has been identified as Ajmir Mondal of West Bengal. “He was nabbed on July 23, produced before CJM, Howrah, and was brought to Bhubaneswar on the strength of transit remand. He will be produced in the Designated Court under OPID Act, Balasore, today,” an EOW release said on Thursday.

The case was registered on basis of a complaint filed by Chief Manager of Bank of India, Baripada, Sujata Kanungo about illegal transactions of Rs 9,56,76,600 from the account of District Mineral Foundation Trust of Zilla Parishad, Mayurbhanj, through four cheques on April 10 and April 18. The EOW took over the case from Bhanjapur police on April 19.

The investigation revealed that the fraudsters used forged/clone cheques and managed to transfer the amount to the accounts of PT Constructions & Supplier (Rs 2,68,42,300) with Bank of Maharashtra and S K Enterprises (Rs 1,84,27,400) with Punjab & Sindh Bank. They further diverted/transferred the money from the accounts of PT Constructions & Supplier and S K Enterprises to several other accounts. “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,” it said.

M0ndal was the owner/signatory authority of S K Enterprises to which more than Rs 1,84,27,400 was illegally transferred. “Rs 4 lakh was withdrawn from this amount by using cheques and another Rs 1.08 lakh through ATM. The remaining amount was again diverted to more than 15 accounts,” the release said.

It further stated that Mondal was a habitual economic offender and was involved in two more cheque cloning cases registered with EOW, Odisha. “He is also an accused in illegal transfer of the funds of Barbil Municipality by using forged/clone cheques. Of the total fraud amount of Rs 2,45,60,850, Rs 1,30,70,770 was illegally credited to his account maintained with Ujjivan Small Finance Bank.”

Three mobile phones, suspected to be containing incriminating materials, have been seized from his possession. He had been hiding since long to evade the police arrest, it further said.

The release added that Mondal 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 have been perpetrating such frauds/scams for last 4 years in an organized manner by using the clone cheques, multi-layering of money transfers, sometimes using mule accounts and by manipulating the information network. They even used local touts for committing the fraud.

Earlier, two accused – Pomesh Tembhare and Ghanshyam Ahuja – were arrested from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh respectively in connection with the case.