The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Crime Branch in Bhubaneswar, India, has arrested a couple, Ashirbad Pattnaik and his wife Manogyan Pattnaik, for allegedly cheating a private bank, ICICI Bank, to the tune of Rs 1.3 crore. The accused couple, allegedly, fraudulently availed of a loan of Rs 1.05 crore by mortgaging their properties, including two flats and a duplex, from the Link Road branch of ICICI Bank’s Cuttack. However, they had previously mortgaged the same properties to Indian Bank’s Ashok Nagar branch to secure a cash credit loan of Rs 3.79 crore for Ashirbad’s firm, AB Solutions, which is involved in iron ore retail business.
The EOW investigation revealed that the couple had initially taken a cash credit loan of Rs 3.79 crore from Indian Bank in January 2018 by mortgaging the properties. Later, in October 2018, they took a loan of Rs 1.05 crore from ICICI Bank by mortgaging the same properties, despite the outstanding loan amount in Indian Bank still pending. The fraud came to light when Indian Bank took possession of the properties after Ashirbad failed to repay the loan. The EOW seized several incriminating documents, including fake sale deeds and loan documents from both banks. The investigation is ongoing, and it is estimated that ICICI Bank suffered a loss of Rs 1.3 crore until January 2025.