Man held for duping bank with fake gold in Bolangir

Bolangir: Police today arrested a man in connection with fake and impure gold pledging case at Bolangir. The accused has been identified as Abhimanyu Mohapatra.

According to reports, as many as 14 loanees have duped State Bank of India (SBI), Kusang branch of Rs 44 lakh by depositing fake gold as mortgage to get the loan.

Police said, Abhimanyu Mohapatra runs a jewellery shop in the area and had earlier verified the gold brought and deposited by other co-accused as mortgage in the concerned bank as part of a major conspiracy.

Mohapatra has taken a loan of Rs 3 lakh from the bank while efforts are also on to nab other accused in connection with the fraud, said inspector-in-charge of Bolangir Sadar police station, Anand Majhi.

Majhi further informed that vital documents have been seized while the involvement of bank officials is also under scanner.

The arrest comes close on the heels of lodging a complaint by the Regional Manager of the Bank regarding the fraud on March 18. The bank authorities had also brought the matter to the notice of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and on getting instructions from senior officials of Crime Branch, a case was registered by Bolangir Sadar police in connection with the incident.