Bhubaneswar, May 28 (IANS) The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Police has arrested a person in connection with a Rs 6.88 crore bank loan fraud case, a senior official said on Thursday.

The accused, identified as Pradipta Kumar Lenka of Cuttack, was arrested by the EOW from Bhubaneswar on Wednesday in connection with a case registered at the EOW Police Station on May 5, 2026, based on a complaint filed by Shiba Sundar Sahoo, Regional Manager of the State Bank of India (SBI), RBO, Bhubaneswar.

In the complaint, the SBI official alleged that the accused persons, by entering into a criminal conspiracy, availed 282 Xpress Credit Loans amounting to Rs 6.88 crore from SBI’s Rail Vihar Branch (150), Fortune Tower Branch (115), Patia Branch (8) and Damana Branch (9) between May 2022 and November 2023 by producing fake and fabricated employment records as employees of different organisations, including Tata Steel Ltd., TPCODL, Vedanta Ltd., Dhamra Port and Aarati Steels Ltd.

“The arrested accused, in connivance with the loanees and others, managed to sanction and avail 282 Xpress Credit loans meant for the corporate/government sector in favour of 282 different ineligible individuals by producing fake and fabricated employment records like salary certificates, employment details, bank statements and KYC documents,” the EOW said in a press statement.

After availing loans through fraudulent means, the loanees allegedly stopped paying the EMI amounts, following which the loan accounts turned into non-performing assets (NPAs), leaving an outstanding amount of Rs 6,88,29,323.

During the investigation, EOW officials found that Rs 3.23 lakh from the loan accounts had allegedly been diverted to the account of accused Lenka. Investigators also ascertained that Lenka was acting as a middleman in preparing fake documents for financial gain.

Notably, four accused persons, including three bank officials — Smruti Ranjan Mohanty, Baishakhi Saha, Charubala Dandasena and Sarita Paikaray — had earlier been arrested in the case and are currently in judicial custody. EOW officials have seized several incriminating materials, including a mobile handset suspected to contain evidence related to the fraud.

–IANS

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