September 5th 2024.
According to sources from the Economic Offences Wing, six individuals have recently been apprehended in relation to a bank loan scam worth a whopping Rs 16.71 crore in the state of Odisha. The suspects have been identified as Anirban Patnaik and Anupama Dash from Bhubaneswar, Tophan Rout and Satyaban Rout from Khandapada in Nayagarh district, Tukuna Mallick from Badamba in Cuttack district, and Feroz Khan from the Kakatpur area of Puri district.
This investigation was launched by the EOW after receiving a complaint from Shiba Sundara Sahoo, the Regional Manager of State Bank of India in Bhubaneswar. The case was registered on August 12 and Sahoo alleged that the accused had obtained 161 Xpress Credit Loans amounting to Rs 16.71 crore from various branches of SBI in Bhubaneswar between November 2022 and October 2023. These loans were obtained by presenting false and fabricated employment records, claiming to be employees of PhonePe Pvt. Ltd.
During the course of their investigation, the EOW discovered that one of the accused, Anirban, had rented a building in the DLF area of Patia, Bhubaneswar to serve as the office for his company, 'Purvi Venture Pvt. Ltd.' However, it was revealed that Anirban and his accomplices had conspired to portray this building as the regional office of PhonePe in Bhubaneswar. They had gone to the extent of installing sign boards and stickers bearing the name of PhonePe. They even created a fake email address resembling that of PhonePe and visited various branches of SBI in Bhubaneswar to obtain Xpress Credit Loans, meant for corporate entities, by submitting falsified salary slips and employment certificates from PhonePe.
Further investigations revealed that the accused would take 35% of the loan amount from the borrowers in order to secure the loan in their names. The fake email was used to deceive the bank into believing that the suspects were genuine employees of PhonePe. EOW sources also disclosed that the accused would transfer small amounts of money into the accounts of the borrowers for several months in order to create a false impression that it was their salary account where regular payments were being made.
The bank uncovered this fraudulent scheme during an internal inquiry and it was later brought to the attention of the EOW. The investigation into this multi-crore loan fraud is still ongoing.
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