Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Odisha Police arrested a man for his alleged involvement in swindling Rs 9.6 crore of the District Mineral Foundation (DMF), Mayurbhanj, an official said Thursday.
One builder, Brajesh Mishra, was arrested from Chhattisgarh Tuesday, and he was brought to Bhubaneswar on transit remand after being produced in a court in the neighbouring state, the EOW officer said.
The arrest was made on the basis of a police case registered by the chief manager of a nationalised bank, Baripada branch.
According to the EOW, a gang of fraudsters managed to transfer Rs 9.56 crore from the account of the DMF trust of Zilla Parishad, Mayurbhanj, by producing clone cheques in April 2024.
Out of the illegally transferred amount, Rs 5.04 crore was blocked, and Rs 13.56 lakh lying in 33 accounts have been frozen, they said.
During the investigation, the police officers found that an amount of Rs 98 lakh and Rs 49 lakh had been transferred to the bank accounts of Mishra’s two construction companies. Of which, Rs 14.19 lakh was transferred to Mishra’s own bank account, and the rest amount to some other accounts with ill intention, the officer said.
Mishra is a member of a larger gang having complex networking in different states like Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha, he said.
After his arrest, EOW has obtained important clues about the entire gang. They have been doing these scams for the last four years. An investigation is in progress to reach out to the other fraudsters, including the boss of the gang, he said.
Earlier, three accused persons of the case-Pomesh Tembhare, Ghanshyam Ahuja and Ajmir Mondal were arrested from Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, respectively.