Three arrested in Odisha bank fraud case of Rs 4.13 crore

Bhubaneswar (IANS) | The Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Police on Thursday arrested three accused, including two former bank employees, in a Rs 4.13 crore bank fraud case. According to the police, the police team arrested Abdul Hayee, retired branch manager of Nuapatna branch, Prakash Kumar Mohapatra, former senior assistant of Christ College Extension counter, Urban Cooperative Bank Ltd, Cuttack and Mustakim Raza, former LIC agent.

The arrest was made in a case lodged by Priyavrat Panda, Chief Executive Officer of Urban Cooperative Bank Limited.

As per the complaint, during the period 2019-21, Abdul Hayee and Prakash Kumar, working in connivance with three borrowers, had sanctioned eight loans amounting to Rs 3.82 crore against bogus LIC policies, which has now increased to Rs 4.13 crore .

During investigation, the EOW found that the accused bank officials did not verify the genuineness of the insurance policies pledged knowingly in violation of banking guidelines, nor did they verify the same with the concerned branch of LIC. In addition, he renewed loans by sanctioning new loans to pay off previous loans.

Mustakim Raza was working as LIC agent from 2002 to 2022 and forged LIC policies by naming borrowers including himself.

Raza, in connivance with the accused bank officials, managed to obtain loans against forged insurance policies. Officials said that the arrested bank officials were fully aware of such forgery.

–IANS