In a Press meet here, local BJP leader Brajendra Kumar Ray demanded ouster of Cooperation Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain and arrest of his brother Birendra Swain and former President of the Cuttack Central Cooperative Bank (CCCB) because of their alleged involvement in a cooperative scam done through the bank's Athagarh branch.
As per the allegation, at least five years ago when Birendra was the president of CCCB, he was involved in a scam of about Rs 100-crore.
Taking the simplicity of several ignorant farmers, some bank representatives and officials had indulged in irregularities and embezzlement the loan sanctioned in names of scores of persons who were actually ignorant of the fact. Some bank employees had collected the bank passbooks from the farmers in the name of updating with the evil intention and later were successful in granting loan amount to those passbooks and forwarding the same amount to their personal accounts.
However, after allegations surfaced, a departmental inquiry was made and irregularities were detected. In this connection, the victimized farmers had complained before the appropriate authority and Minister Swain, but in vain.Protesting apathy, three of these farmers had even tried self-immolation before State Assembly recently.