Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Crime Branch in Bhubaneshwar arrested 13 persons, including two key bank employees for a banking fraud to the tune of Rs 11.82 crore in the urban co-operative bank Dhenkanal, reports TOI.
Among the accused are Sukant Mishra and Niranjan Kar, former president and secretary of the bank respectively, nine borrowers and two members of the bank’s loan approval committee.
In February 2010, the cooperation department closed and subsequently liquidated the bank due to its poor financial condition. EOW sources said the bank disbursed huge loans fraudulently between 1999 and 2010.
A group of bank officials connived with the borrowers and sanctioned loans by accepting forged documents. “The loans, availed mostly by relatives and acquaintances of the bank officials, were not repaid. When the bank faced closure six years ago, the outstanding sum touched Rs 11.82 crore,” said special DG (Crime) B K Sharma.