Middleman held in loan fraud case

Bhubaneswar: Two days after the economic offences wing (EOW) arrested three women employees of a public sector bank in Bhubaneswar for their alleged role in a Rs 6.88 crore loan fraud, the agency on Thursday arrested a middleman on charges of aiding the scam. “The accused, Pradipta Kumar Lenka (40), allegedly received Rs 3.23 lakh from the defrauded funds. He worked hand in glove with the bank officials to facilitate the fraud,” an EOW officer said.Earlier on Tuesday, bank officials Baishakhi Saha, Charubala Dandasena, and Sarita Paikaray were arrested for sanctioning personal loans to 282 persons using forged documents. Once disbursed, the funds were diverted to multiple accounts, EMIs went unpaid, and the bank incurred heavy losses.Officials revealed that the alleged misappropriation took place between May 2022 and Nov 2023. The bank lodged a formal complaint on May 5 this year. According to EOW, borrowers submitted fake employment records, salary slips, and bank statements, posing as staff of reputed private firms. The bank officials allegedly approved the loans without verifying the authenticity of the documents.