Raid on media house: EOW sniffs organised bank fraud to avail loans worth crores

Carrying out a probe into the allegations of loan fraud by the daily newspaper Sambad, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Police Crime Branch on Tuesday claimed to have got vital clues regarding a well and meticulously planned scam.

The scam was allegedly planned to get loans amounting to crores of rupees using fraudulent means of cheating, forgery and coercion.

In a statement, EOW revealed several patterns in the forgery. Over 350 employees of the media house have taken loans from Odisha Gramya Bank, IRC Village in the past several years.

As per the EOW, the loan processes followed a similar pattern- Rs 5 lakh loan under the easy money loan scheme of the bank on similar grounds like a house or house repair.

“Forged salary certificates have been submitted and there is a huge difference between the actual salary and salary certificate produced by the media house. Actual employees (loanees) have not received a single penny,” said EOW in its statement.

As per the EOW, the EMIs are paid by the media house in 60 installments and it has been the process to get loans sanctioned in this particular style for long.

“The pattern seems not to be just a one-off instance or coincidence but a well-thought and organized bank fraud. Further probe is underway,” the EOW statement added.