BARIPADA: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch on Sunday launched a probe into the alleged swindling of nearly `10 crore from the bank account of the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) fund in Mayurbhanj.
A team of EOW from Bhubaneswar arrived at Baripada and went to Bhanjpur police station to investigate the matter. An officer of Bhanjpur police station said two days back, the branch manager of Bank of India, Baripada lodged a complaint alleging that the DMF money of the Zilla Parishad (ZP), Mayurbhanj was withdrawn and transferred online to different accounts between April 10 to 18 in phases. Within the period of eight days, nearly Rs10 crore was transferred to other accounts.
The matter came to light after the account section staff of the Zilla Parishad updated the account. They immediately informed the higher authorities about the fraud.
Mayurbhanj ZP president Bharati Hansdah said around Rs 2 crore was withdrawn from the Bank of India’s Baripada branch recently for development work. When more money was required for a project, the staff went to the bank and came to know that the remaining fund of nearly `10 crore had already been withdrawn from the account.
Subsequently, an FIR was filed in Bhanjpur police station. The case was later handed over to the EOW, Hansdah added.