An instance of an innocent land owner falling prey to a fraud due to the nexus between bank officials and conmen has come to the fore in the capital city.
It is alleged that due to such fraudulent rackets many landowners, who are unaware of the unholy nexus between bank officials and criminal elements, are falling victims.
In one such an incident, one Satya Shankar Satpathy, proprietor of Hara Parvati Agency has been able to obtain a loan of more than Rs 66 lakh by mortgaging forged documents to bank of a land measuring 268 decimals in a prime location of Bhubaneswar.
It is alleged that this was done in direct connivance of some dishonest bank officials without the knowledge of the bonafide land owner.
The incident came to the fore when the actual land owner Satyabadi Baliarsingh, received a notice from the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) for pending installments, for the loan that has been availed by Satpathy.
During inquiry, it was revealed that gross anomalies have taken place in the loan sanction process by the OSBC Branch of the Union Bank of India at Cuttack.
The bank was found to have not undertaken the Mandatory inquiries to establish the authenticity of the loan documents such as checking of the recent ECs of the land, ascertaining the KYC of the land owner such as PAN Card, Voter ID, Driving License, Photo, signature, present address and permanent address of the guarantor of the loan, physical verifications of the original documents of the land which are completely in possession of the actual land owner before sanctioning the huge loan to the fraudster. It is more surprising to note that said bank has submitted another set of duplicate and invalid ID proofs to the DRT to mislead the case despite sanctioning the loan on a different set of fabricated ID proofs.
Prima facie it seemed that the bank was in a lightening hurry to sanction the loan and has offered the money on a platter to the fraudsters without bothering even to verify the documents and to auction the piece of land and grab a pie from that.
It is also learnt from the certified copy of the Memorandum Evidence creation of equitable mortgage by deposit of title deed was done at the Sub-Registrar Office without checking the original deeds, Pattas, EC and identification of the real owner.
Besides, it was revealed that some Satyabadi Parida (who changed his title from Parida to Baliarsingh), of Godimala under the Balanga police station in Puri district impersonated the real owner Satyabadi Baliarsingh.
Meanwhile. the real landowner has lodged a FIR with the Anti-Fraud Cell of Economic Offence Wing (EOW). In this connection, the OSBC branch of Union Bank of India in Cuttack lodged a FIR at the Lalbag police station in Cuttack city against Satpathy.
The Khandagiri Sub-Registrar has also lodged an FIR about the forged mortgage deed.Meanwhile, based on the complaints, the Lalbagh police have arrested the accused Satya Shankar Satpathy and Satyabadi Parida.