Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Police on Saturday arrested a former manager of a Bhubaneswar-based branch of a nationalised bank on the charge of perpetrating vehicle loan fraud to the tune of Rs 1.09 crore.
The accused, Swayam Prakash Parida, former branch manager of Central Bank of India, Palaspalli Branch, Bhubaneswar was earlier terminated from service after prima facie evidence was established against him. During his tenure as manager, Parida had perpetrated the fraud in complicity with an accountholder between 2015-17, said EOW officials.
The accused booked 420/467/468/ 471/120-B sections of Indian Penal Code was later remanded to judicial custody after production in a local court.
The arrested banker had sanctioned the vehicle loans with premeditated deceit. Though the loanee had furnished fake insurance certificates, cover notes, payment receipts without purchase of any vehicle, the bank manager had sanctioned the loans despite being aware of the fraud.
Besides, there was no mandatory hypothecation of the vehicles to the lender bank. As a result, the bank could not recover the loan amounts as there was no collateral security.
An amount of Rs 1.09 crore in respect of the 24 vehicle loans and one Cash Credit loan were sanctioned and disbursed illegally, and the amount was misappropriated by the arrested banker and the loanee, the EOW added.