BHUBANESWAR: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Thursday arrested retired branch manager of Urban Co-operative Bank limited, SK Abdul Hayee, and two others for allegedly sanctioning eight loans against fake Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) policies amounting to Rs 3.82 crore. At present, the outstanding amount stands at Rs 4.13 crore.
Chief executive officer (in-charge) of Urban Co-operative Bank in Cuttack, Priyabrata Panda had lodged a complaint with the EOW alleging Hayee, the then manager of Nuapatna branch, former senior assistant of the bank’s extension counter in Christ College, Prakash Kumar Mohapatra, who is under suspension and three fake loanees committed the fraud. Hayee, who was the branch manager between 2019 and 2021 along with Mohapatra, loanee Md Mustakim Raja and two others fraudulently availed the loans against the security of fake/forged LIC policies.
The accused bank officials deliberately did not verify the authenticity/genuineness of the insurance policies nor did they get them ratified with the concerned branch of LIC. The insurance policies belonged to some genuine customers but the accused forged them by mentioning the names of their associates who acted as loanees.
Hayee and Mohapatra even sanctioned new loans to close the previous ones. “Mustakim Raja was working as an LIC agent between 2002 and 2022. He collected the LIC policies from the branch and forged them by putting the names of fake loanees including himself,” said an EOW officer. Further investigation into the matter is on, he said.