BHUBANESWAR: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch arrested a former branch manager and an ex-agricultural finance officer of the Central Bank of India for their alleged involvement in a fraud amounting to Rs 3.3 crore.
The accused Dambarudhar Nayak, former branch manager and ex-agricultural finance officer Devidutta Panigrahi were posted in the bank’s Bhadreswar branch in Cuttack district. As per a complaint lodged by the bank’s regional head Anadi Biswas with EOW, Nayak and Panigrahi had fraudulently sanctioned funds into 68 Central Kisan Credit Cards (CKCC) and 24 term loan accounts.
Acting on the complaint, EOW had registered a case in this connection under various sections of the IPC and Information Technology Act on December 5. During the investigation, the agency found that Nayak and Panigrahi were posted in Bhadreswar from September 18, 2015, to November 11, 2018.
During their tenure, they illegally diverted government subsidies. Further investigation revealed the accused entered into a criminal conspiracy and illegally sanctioned/diverted over Rs 85.49 lakh in 68 CKCC accounts and more than Rs 1.49 crore in 24 term loan accounts, along with Rs 15.60 lakh subsidy amount of eight borrowers of Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) and Rs 83.24 lakh towards 114 irregular transactions in bank’s profit and loss accounts.
Nayak and Panigrahi sanctioned the loans in the name of different persons without their knowledge and consent. They even fraudulently raised the limit of the loans without their knowledge and used forged documents to misappropriate the money.
“Nayak was dismissed by the bank and disciplinary action was initiated against Panigrahi. While Nayak was arrested from Keonjhar, Panigrahi was nabbed from Bhubaneswar on Thursday. Several incriminating documents have been seized from them and further probe is underway,” said an EOW officer.