BHUBANESWAR: A few hours after Khandapada MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik was ousted from the BJD for his alleged involvement in a loan scam, the EOW of the Odisha crime branch on Thursday searched the office of the media group run by him.
The EOW had conducted a search operation at Patnaik’s media organization in Rasulgarh area on September 18 as well.
A cheating and forgery case was registered against Patnaik and Baijayanti Kar, the HR head of the media house on September 16 following an allegation by one of their former employees that he was forced to take a loan on behalf of the company through fraudulent means.
“Our team conducted the search operation to seize some digital documents, including computer hard disks. We also questioned functionaries of the firm’s accounts section and seized some documents. We found that the company often received huge amounts of cash from different sources. Those sources are being verified,” an EOW official said.
According to the probe agency, the media company allegedly facilitated the sanction of loans to the tune of crores of rupees in favor of over 350 employees in the past by submitting forged and inflated salary slips. The company later took away the loan amounts from the employees and spent it for different purposes, the EOW official added.
According to the EOW, though the media house repaid the loans, it resorted to fraudulent methods to avail the loans with the help of employees.
On Thursday, branch manager of a bank was quizzed by the EOW in connection with the case. The bank has been asked to share the documents submitted by the company’s employees then to avail the loans. The EOW is also verifying whether the bank had then adopted proper verification and followed due procedures for sanction of the loans.
“We will question the bank’s former employees who had then sanctioned the loans. Action will be taken against them if they are found having worked hand-in-glove with the accused,” the EOW officer said.
Sources said the EOW is likely to question Soumya in the next two or three days. Currently Soumya is out of station, EOW sources said. His media house has been insisting innocence and alleged that they have been framed in the false case for writing against a top bureaucrat.
The EOW had conducted a search operation at Patnaik’s media organization in Rasulgarh area on September 18 as well.
A cheating and forgery case was registered against Patnaik and Baijayanti Kar, the HR head of the media house on September 16 following an allegation by one of their former employees that he was forced to take a loan on behalf of the company through fraudulent means.
“Our team conducted the search operation to seize some digital documents, including computer hard disks. We also questioned functionaries of the firm’s accounts section and seized some documents. We found that the company often received huge amounts of cash from different sources. Those sources are being verified,” an EOW official said.
According to the probe agency, the media company allegedly facilitated the sanction of loans to the tune of crores of rupees in favor of over 350 employees in the past by submitting forged and inflated salary slips. The company later took away the loan amounts from the employees and spent it for different purposes, the EOW official added.
According to the EOW, though the media house repaid the loans, it resorted to fraudulent methods to avail the loans with the help of employees.
On Thursday, branch manager of a bank was quizzed by the EOW in connection with the case. The bank has been asked to share the documents submitted by the company’s employees then to avail the loans. The EOW is also verifying whether the bank had then adopted proper verification and followed due procedures for sanction of the loans.
“We will question the bank’s former employees who had then sanctioned the loans. Action will be taken against them if they are found having worked hand-in-glove with the accused,” the EOW officer said.
Sources said the EOW is likely to question Soumya in the next two or three days. Currently Soumya is out of station, EOW sources said. His media house has been insisting innocence and alleged that they have been framed in the false case for writing against a top bureaucrat.
