Delhi Based CA Arrested in PNB Loan Fraud Case

A chartered accountant from Delhi has been detained by the Economic Offenses Wing in Bhubaneswar for his alleged participation in a case involving the Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case.

The accused, named as Neeraj Kumar, was shown before the court of the chief metropolitan magistrate in the capital. Neeraj Kumar is a resident of Bindapur in Uttam Nagar.

The Court of Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Bhubaneswar, will hear Kumar’s case after he was sent there on a transit remand on Monday. EOW stated in a statement.

According to a written report against the accused Kali Prasad Mishra, Owner of KP Solutions, and others by a top PNB official in Bhubaneswar, the case has been filed.

It was alleged that the accused obtained a Cash Credit (CC) loan for working capital worth Rs.250 Lakh from the Bapuji Nagar Branch of the Punjab National Bank in Bhubaneswar in 2017 using forged or fake documents and mortgaged landed properties as collateral security that were recorded in the names of other people without the landowners’ knowledge.

According to a statement, “Investigation also revealed that Neeraj Kumar, a qualified chartered accountant, was working for Punjab National Bank from 2013 to 2016 as Manager, Credit, in Saheed Nagar Branch, Bhubaneswar, alongside accused Birendra Kumar Pattanaik, who was also working as Chief Manager in the same branch.”

It was also revealed that Neeraj Kumar left PNB in 2016 and that following his departure, he frequently pretended to be a bank employee while working at the Bapuji Nagar branch of PNB, where the accused Birendra Kumar Pattanaik was the chief manager and actively involved in facilitating and arranging loans totaling crores from PNB.

“Because of his existing friendship with Birendra Kumar Pattnaik, the accused Neeraj Kumar had unrestricted access to the PNB, Bapuji Nagar Branch and was seated in the staff seating area while pretending to be a serving CA or member of the bank staff. He, along with accused Prakash Kumar Behera (who is still in judicial custody), and other bank employees organised or facilitated the sanction of loans based on forged documents and impersonation, causing the bank to suffer wrongful losses amounting to crores and themselves receiving corresponding wrongful gains” added the statement.