The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch arrested five individuals, including a home guard, for their alleged involvement in a Rs 3.5 crore bank loan fraud. The accused were charged with impersonating a person and forging land documents to secure the loan.
The arrested individuals were identified as Niranjan Satpathy, a home guard, Rinarani Satpathy of Suipatna in Bhadrak, Dhananjay Prusty of Sahebzada Bazar, Nirapada Karmakar of Mohammadia Bazar, and Surendra Kumar Beura of Choudwar’s Chitreswar area.
According to EOW sources, Niranjan Satpathy was the mastermind behind the scam. He was employed by the Bhubaneswar Urban Police District (UPD) at the time of the fraud. The EOW registered a case after receiving a complaint from Bhabani Shankar Mohanty, the regional manager of SBI’s regional office in Cuttack, on February 18.
Investigations revealed that the accused orchestrated a fraudulent Rs 3.5 crore asset-backed loan (ABL) from the State Bank of India (SBI) by mortgaging a property that originally belonged to Sarat Chandra Swain. The loan was secured by using fake documents, with the perpetrators forming a partnership firm named M/s Maa Ganga Enterprise. The firm was initially set up by Dhananjay and Surendra on December 3, 2022. On September 20, 2023, they resigned from the firm and transferred their partnership to Jonaki Karmakar (Nirapada’s wife) and another accomplice, who posed as the original landowner. The new partners then applied for the Rs 3.5 crore loan by mortgaging Swain’s land.
The fraud came to light when the actual landowner tried to sell the property, only to discover that the bank had already pledged the land as collateral. Suspicious of the situation, the bank filed a complaint with the EOW. Further investigation revealed that the loan funds were diverted into accounts linked to Nirapada’s firms, as well as accounts controlled by Niranjan and his associates.
Following the investigation, EOW officials raided Niranjan and Rinarani’s rented accommodation in Bhubaneswar’s Chintamaniswar area. During the raid, they seized Rs 51,100 in cash, fake Aadhaar and PAN cards, several sale deeds, and counterfeit Indian currency notes worth Rs 5,290. The investigation is ongoing, and authorities are working to determine whether others were involved in the fraud.
