Nuapada SP Parmar Smit Parshottamdas in a press meet today informed that Banti, his father Rajendra Agarwal and wife Sabita Agarwal are accused of providing fake term deposit receipts (TDRs) as security to win government tenders worth Rs 25.36 crore. 19 cases have been registered against them in five districts - Nuapada, Kalahandi, Bolangir, Bargarh and Nabarangpur - out of which 10 are against Banti.
"They will be produced in court subsequently. We brought them on transit remand after producing them before Bhawanipatna court. They will be produced in concerned courts after completion of medical check-up and other formalities. Documentary evidence will be collected during the investigation," said Parshottamdas.
On the other hand, Bolangir police is planning to take Banti on remand for interrogation. According to sources, after the case against the father-son duo came to light, Superintending Engineer, Roads and Building Circle, Bolangir did not take any action. Instead of informing police about the forgery, the engineer wrote a letter asking the accused to deposit the money within seven days.
Such favour by a government official has raised eyebrows following which police is likely to interrogate various government officials in connection with the case.
"How did he prepare the documents, who were helping him, what were his sources and where did he prepare the documents will be investigated," said Additional SP of Bolangir, Sashibhusan Sathpathy.
Preparing fake TDRs is impossible without the help of bank and Works department officials. While Banti is arrested, police is planning to nab the corrupt officials as well, added sources.
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Banti now stands ineligible for applying to any tender of the State Government and has even been barred to undertake any type of business transaction with the government in direct or indirect basis, informed sources.
A notification against him will be released soon.
The move comes in the wake of allegations against proprietor of Suraj Enterprises, Rajendra Prasad Agarwal and son Banti Agarwal of submitting fake term deposit receipts (TDRs) to bag contracts of several government departments.
According to reports, the father-son duo had committed a forgery of Rs 10 to 12 crore in Bolangir, Kalahandi and Nuapada districts.
Earlier on October 13, the State Government had also blacklisted their firm Suraj Enterprises. In a letter, Engineer-in-Chief-cum-secretary to government had directed Chief Engineer, DPI & Roads to blacklist the agency under Rule-4 of OPWD Contractor’s Registration Rules 1967.
The public works department (PWD) had detected fraud in tenders procured by Suraj Enterprises by submitting fake TDRs in Kalahandi district.
A three-months-old letter written by SBI Main Branch Bhawanipatna to the Executive Engineer (EE), Roads and Building Division(R&BD), Bolangir had mentioned the TDR submitted by Rajendra and Banti as valid. However, doubting the validity of the document the R&BD authorities visited the bank personally to authenticate it and found it was forged.
"The bank had written a letter validating the TDR and now they termed it as fake. We will inquire about the previous letter of the bank authorities and will go by the reply they give," said an official of Roads & Buildings Division, Bolangir.
Not only Bolangir, but the Executive Engineers of Kalahandi, Nuapada and Kantabanji had received similar reply from the bank. In the mean time, the father and son duo had already carried out forgery of nearly Rs 10 to 12 crores.
The earlier validation letter received from the bank raises suspicion as fake TDRs cannot be prepared without the involvement of some bank officials. It is suspected Banti was involved in getting the validation letters earlier.
"We will verify the documents only after receiving a complaint or else we will go by the affidavit. The works on the TDR in the circle is amounting to nearly Rs 10 to 12 crores," said Superintending Engineer, Roads and Building Circle, Bolangir Upendra Kumar Mund.
Meanwhile, a case has been registered against Banti and his wife Sabita at Bhawanipatna police station. The Executive Engineer, Rural Works Division, Bhawanipatna has lodged an FIR against the duo on charges of winning work order by submitting 31 fake TDRs.
"They have filed a complaint against Banti Agarwal and Sabita Agarwal after checking the TDRs at SBI Bhawanipatna. We will also verify it," said investigating officer Dambrudhar Bataria.
It is pertinent to mention here that out of the total 16 cases registered against Banti, his father and wife, the EOW is conducting investigation into four cases.
The investigating agency so far has filed final chargesheets in two cases and preliminary chargesheets in others, official sources said.
Earlier, Banti along with his father was arrested for allegedly providing 48 fake term deposit receipts (TDRs) as security to win government tenders worth over Rs 10 to 12 crore on different occasions in Kalahandi, Bolangir, Bargarh and Nuapada districts.
The Public Works department (PWD) had detected the fraud in tenders in Kalahandi district and lodged complaint against Banti.
On October 13 last year, the State government blacklisted the contractor under Rule-4 of OPWD Contractor’s Registration Rules 1967. Later, an FIR was registered against Banti and his wife Sabita at Bhawanipatna police station.