BHUBANESWAR/NUAPADA:The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha Crime Branch has taken over investigation of the fraud committed by contractors Bunty Agarwal and his family members.
Bunty, his father Rajendra Prasad Agarwal and proprietor of Suraj Buildtech Sabita Devi Agarwal were arrested from Haryana by Nuapada Police on Monday. They are accused of producing forged Term Deposit Receipts (TDRs) to bag contracts worth several crores of rupees from the State Government departments.
About 19 cases have been registered against the trio in Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Balangir and Bargarh districts. Of them, four cases have been taken over by EOW which will monitor and assist the rest, the agency said.
Recently, the Rural Development (RD) Department had blacklisted Suraj Enterprises for allegedly submitting fake TDRs to procure some key tenders in Kalahandi and Nuapada districts.
According to EOW sleuths, Rajendra, Bunty and Sabita had deposited fake and forged TDRs purpotedly issued by State Bank of India (SBI) in Bhawanipatna.
The TDRs were issued by the bank towards Earnest Money Deposit (EMD), Initial Service Deposit (ISD) and Additional Performance Security Deposit (APSD) to execute the work under Public Works Department, Rural Water Supply and Sanitation and RD divisions of Khariar, Nuapada, Kantabanjhi, Balangir, Kesinga, Bhawanipatna, Dharamgarh, Bargarh and Nabarangpur.
The firm had bagged the tenders for construction of road under Biju Expressway from Nuapada to Sohela at an estimated cost of `43 crore. Accordingly, it had deposited TDR and preliminary inquiry revealed that out of the total amount of TDR worth `2.95 crore, an amount of `38.6 lakh was withdrawn.