The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Crime Branch has arrested Punjab National Bank’s (PNB) former Manager Neeraj Kumar from Delhi in connection with a loan fraud of Rs 6.18 crore.
Neeraj, who was the Manager of the PNB’s Saheed Nagar branch, sanctioned loans, often by devious means i.e. by impersonating dead persons as guarantors or by mortgaging property of others without their knowledge by using forged documents.
The arrest was made on the basis of a case registered with the EOW in September 2020 under Sections 420, 406, 419, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC. Following his arrest, Neeraj was produced in the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court at Dwarka in New Delhi on July 23 and brought on transit remand to Bhubaneswar. Later, he was produced in the Bhubaneswar SDJM Court.
A case was registered on the written complaint of PNB Bhubaneswar Circle Head Paresh Kumar Das. He had accused Kali Prasad Mishra, proprietor of KP Solutions of availing Cash Credit (CC) loan for working capital to the tune of Rs 250 lakh on October 24, 2017 from PNB Bapuji Nagar Branch, Bhubaneswar by using forged documents and mortgaging landed property of other people as collateral security without knowledge of the genuine owners.
During investigation, it was revealed that Neeraj, a resident of Bindapur in New Delhi, was working as PNB Manager (Credit) at Saheed Nagar branch between 2013 and 2016 while another accused Birendra Kumar Pattanaik worked as Chief Manager in the same branch.
Even after resigning from the bank in 2016, Neeraj used to sit at the PNB Bapuji Nagar branch posing as an official of the bank, where Birendra was the Chief Manager.
In connivance with Birendra and other officials, Neeraj managed to get free access to PNB Bapuji Nagar branch.
He along with another accused Prakash Kumar Behera (now in judicial custody) and other officials had sanctioned loans against forged documents, causing huge loss worth crores of rupees to the bank and wrongful gain to themselves, the EOW said.