The Odisha Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) apprehended two individuals, Surjit Roy and Sameer Srivastav, from Raipur, Chhattisgarh, in connection with the District Mineral Foundation Trust (DMFT) fund embezzlement case. These arrests are linked to the fraudulent withdrawal of over Rs 9.56 crore from a Bank of India account in Mayurbhanj district. The accused, proprietors of Roy Associates and SS Traders, were brought to Bhubaneswar after being produced before a local court in Raipur on transit remand.
The case originated from a complaint filed by Sujata Kanungo, Chief Manager of Bank of India’s Baripada branch, alleging fraudulent transactions totaling Rs 9,56,76,600 from the DMFT account of Mayurbhanj Zilla Parishad. Investigations revealed that the fraudsters utilized cloned and forged cheques to transfer the funds to accounts in the names of PT Constructions and Supplier, maintained with Bank of Maharashtra, and S.K. Enterprises, maintained with Punjab and Sindh Bank. The embezzled money was then dispersed across various accounts in different states through layered transactions.
The EOW reported that Rs 5.04 crore of the defrauded amount has been blocked, with Rs 13.56 lakh frozen in 33 bank accounts. Notably, funds from the PT Constructions and Supplier accounts were transferred to Roy Associates and SS Traders, amounting to Rs 45.19 lakh and Rs 39.19 lakh, respectively. The arrested individuals are part of a larger network operating in states like Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Odisha, engaging in such fraudulent activities for the past four years.
