BHUBANESWAR: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Crime Branch on Tuesday arrested an SBI official from Bhubaneswar for allegedly misappropriating Rs 5.21 crore by sanctioning 105 gold loans without proper documentation or receiving original gold ornaments.
The accused, Prashant Kumar Mallick, worked as a senior associate-cum-cash-in-charge at SBI Balichandrapur branch in Jajpur. EOW said Mallick had been working in the SBI’s Balichandrapur branch since June 2022. He was at large for the last several months after the fraud came to light last year.
EOW officials said Mallick’s duties involved verifying gold ornaments with the help of goldsmiths, ensuring eligibility and compliance of the required documents and recommending sanctioning of loans. He was also tasked to maintain custody of executed loan documents and the pledged gold ornaments.
The fraud came to light during the routine visit of senior officials to the bank in 2025, when Mallick failed to produce the gold loan files before them. He subsequently fled.
The bank officials conducted an audit of gold loan accounts and carried out a detailed internal investigation. They found that Mallick had fraudulently processed 105 gold loan accounts. Of them, 31 accounts involved pledging of fake gold ornaments and 74 accounts were sanctioned without receiving any gold ornaments.
The bank officials then lodged a complaint with the EOW in this regard.