CUTTACK: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Crime Branch on Wednesday arrested five persons including a home guard for their alleged involvement in a Rs 3.5 crore bank loan fraud by impersonating a person and forging his land documents.
The accused have been identified as the home guard Niranjan Satpathy and Rinarani Satpathy of Suipatna area in Bhadrak, Dhananjay Prusty of Sahebzada Bazar, Nirapada Karmakar of Mohammadia Bazar and Surendra Kumar Beura of Choudwar’s Chitreswar area.
EOW sources said Niranjan was the mastermind of the scam. He was employed with the Bhubaneswar Urban Police District (UPD).
The EOW registered a case after receiving a complaint from Bhabani Shankar Mohanty, regional manager, SBI, regional office in Cuttack on February 18. Investigation revealed the accused had allegedly planned a fraudulent Rs 3.5 crore asset backed loan (ABL) from the SBI by mortgaging a property originally belonging to one Sarat Chandra Swain, using fake documents.
The conspiracy began with formation of a partnership firm, M/s Maa Ganga Enterprise, by Dhananjay and Surendra on December 3, 2022. Later on September 20, 2023, the duo resigned from the firm transferring the partnership to Jonaki Karmakar (Nirapada’s wife), and another one of the accused who posed as the original land owner. The new partners then applied for the loan of Rs 3.5 crore from SBI by mortgaging Swain’s land using fraudulent property documents.
The scam came to light when the real owner attempted to sell his property but the bank withheld the sale proceeds as the land had already been pledged. Suspecting a fraud, the bank filed a complaint with EOW. Investigation revealed, the loan amount obtained from the bank had been diverted to accounts linked to firms controlled by Nirapada as well as to Niranjan and their other associates.
EOW officials then raided the rented accommodations of Niranjan and Rinarani in Bhubaneswar’s Chintamaniswar area, and seized cash amounting to Rs 51,100, fake Aadhaar and PAN cards, different sale deeds and counterfeit Indian currency notes amounting to Rs 5,290. Further investigation is underway to ascertain if others are involved, EOW officials said.