KENDRAPARA: A former manager of a nationalised bank in Kendrapara was arrested on Friday for allegedly defrauding customers of around Rs 1. 50 crore on the pretext of sanctioning loans.The accused was identified as Manmohan Mohanty, the manager of Canara Bank branch at Kakat within Kendrapara Town police limits. Police said he was arrested on basis of the complaint of one Satyajit Das, a businessman.In 2016, Das, the proprietor of Jagannath traders at Santa Sahi, had lodged a complaint against Mohanty alleging that the manager had fraudulently withdrawn Rs 13 lakh from his bank account using cheques which he had given for sanction of loans.
During investigation, police found that Mohanty had withdrawn around Rs 1.50 crore from the accounts of 14 customers.In all the cases, Mohanty had collected bank cheques from customers as documents for loans. Later, he used the cheques to withdraw funds from the customers’ accounts. He was suspended from the bank manager’s post in 2018. Kendrapara Town IIC Jyotiranjan Samantray said, “During investigation, we found that the accused had purchased a luxury apartment in Bhubaneswar besides valuable lands at Kendrapara, the State Capital and Pipili.” The accused was produced in court and remanded to judicial custody.