EOW ARRESTS ANOTHER FRAUDSTER IN STATE BANK FRAUD OFRS.16.71 CR.

Economic Offences Wing, Odisha, arrested the accused Saroj Nayak on 20.09.2024 from Bhubaneswar in EOW PS Case No.09 Dtd.12.08.2024 U/s 409/420/467/468/471/120-B IPC r.w Sec.66 (C) of IT Act. The arrested accused is going to be produced before the Hon’ble Designated Court under OPID Act, Cuttack today i.e. on 21.09.2024.

The case was registered on the written report of Shiba Sundara Sahoo, Regional Manager, State Bank of India, RBO, Bhubaneswar wherein it was alleged that the accused persons by entering into a conspiracy availed 161 No. of Xpress Credit Loans amounting to Rs. 16.71 Cr. from Jaydev Vihar (139), Patia (5), Raghunathpur (11) and Jharpada Branch (6) of SBI during the period from Nov’ 2022 to Oct’ 2023 by producing fake/fabricated employment records as employees of Phonepe Pvt. Ltd.

The arrested accd. Saroj Nayak is a diploma holder from RIT, Rourkela and runs an agency in the name and style of ‘Omm Maa Construction’. He is a part of the larger conspiracy hatched out by the fraudsters and was arranging the prospective loanees for Xpress Credit loan and collecting the personal credentials like Aadhaar and PAN card from the loanees and handing over the same to other masterminds to manufacture forged documents like Employment certificate of phonepe and salary slips. In order to show the regular payment of salary in the account of loanee, the fraudsters were transferring certain amount for 03-04 months to the account of loanee, and the loanees on their part were again transferring the amounts to the account of the arrested accused Saroj Nayak, maintained with PNB. Again, the prospective loanees were being asked to give one/two signed blank cheques in advance to the fraudsters and the same were being used to transfer substantial amounts equivalent to 35% of the sanctioned loan to the account of ‘Omm Maa Construction’ maintained at SBI, Saheed Nagar Branch, of which the arrested accd. is the authorized signatory. After credit of the cheque amount to the above account, the arrested accd. was withdrawing the same in cash and paying the amounts to other fraudsters retaining his own portion. As found on investigation, amount of Rs.26,62,541/- sent by 24 loanees have been credited in the PNB account of the arrested accd. and amount of Rs.52.47 lakh has been transferred to the account of ‘Omm Maa Construction’ from SB account of 20 No. of loanees by using the 20 pre-signed blank cheques so collected in advance from the loanees. As found, total amount of Rs.79,09,541/- has been credited to the
above said two accounts of the accused. The arrested accused was getting handsome amount from the fraud money for arranging prospective loanees, collecting their credentials and allowing his personal and agency account to facilitate the fraud.

As found on investigation, so far-

• Anirbana Patnaik had taken a building on rent at DLF, Patia, Bhubaneswar to run office of his company ‘Purvi Venture Pvt. Ltd.’ but by entering into conspiracy with other accd. persons, the building was projected to be the regional office of Phonepe at Bhubaneswar by putting the sign boards and stickers of Phonepe.
• Besides, one fake e-mail looking like that of Phonepe was created by the accd. persons.
• The accd. persons approached different branches of SBI at Bhubaneswar for Xpress Credit Loan (Personal Loan) by filing the inflated salary slip and the forged employment certificate of Phonepe.
• During Pre-sanction visit, the above said building hired by accd. Anirbana Patnaik was fraudulently shown as the Regional Office of Phonepe and the fake e-mail was used to give clearance during verification that the loan applicants are the employees of Phonepe. In this fraudulent manner, the accd. persons managed to get total 161 No. of Xpress Loans meant for the corporate sector sanctioned in the name of different accd. loanees by making/using forged documents.
• Investigation revealed that the accd. persons were receiving 35% of the loan amount from the loanees to get it sanctioned in their favour.
• The loanees were being asked to submit their personal IDs like Aadhaar and PAN, and the other documents were being arranged/managed by the accd. brokers. The fake e-mail was being used to give the false information that the accd. were the employees of Phonepe. Amounts were being sent in advance for 3-4 consecutive months to the accounts of the loanees on a particular date of a month so as to give the impression that it happens to be the salary account of the loanees where regular salaries are being credited every month. When the loans became stressed due to non-refund of the loan amount, fraudulent activities were suspected which necessitated an internal investigation in which the fraud came to the surface.

Earlier, 06 accd. persons have been arrested in the case and are now in judicial custody.

Many incriminating materials like mobile phones suspected to be containing the incriminating materials have been seized from the arrested accd.

The investigation of the case is on.