BHUBANESWAR: In a curious turn of events, BJD MLA and chairman of Eastern Media Limited and editor of Odia daily Sambad, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik has been accused of loan fraud by a former employee. The ex-employee has lodged a complaint against Patnaik and HR head Baijayanti Kar with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Crime Branch.
The complainant, who approached the agency through his lawyer Dibyajyoti Das, has alleged he was forced to take a loan from a bank in the city in 2015 by submitting required documents. However, he never received the loan after completing all the formalities.
“My client was forced to avail a loan in 2015. He was even not aware of the amount of loan sanctioned in his favour though he repeatedly visited the bank. He subsequently found out that a loan of Rs 5 lakh was sanctioned in his favour,” said Das.
The complainant suspects a fake account was created using his documents and the entire loan amount was transferred to it. He allegedly did not receive any document or a cheque book from the bank for the loan, said Das.
On being asked why did the complainant not approach the agency earlier, Das said it took years for his client to understand the fraud as the bank officials were not cooperating with him.“We have lodged a complaint in EOW and during inquiry, the agency may find out about many other such employees of the group who have been victims of such loan fraud”, he said.
Sources said the complainant worked with Sambad for about 12 years before quitting the organisation in 2020. Meanwhile, Patnaik told the local media that he is not aware of the matter and will comment on it later.