Odisha EOW arrests fraudster in Rs 9.5 crore cheque cloning case

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha Crime Branch has arrested a fraudster involved in the illegal withdrawal of over Rs 9 crore from the account of District Mineral Foundation Trust of Zilla Parishad in Mayurbhanj through clone cheque fraud.

The EOW sleuths apprehended the accused, Ajmir Mondal, from Nalpur in West Bengal on Tuesday. He was brought on transit remand and presented at a court in Balasore on Thursday.

Earlier, two accused persons, namely Pomesh Tembhare and Ghanshyam Ahuja were arrested from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh respectively.

Based on the complaint of Sujata Kanungo, Chief Manager of Bank of India’s Baripada branch in Mayurbhanj, a case was first registered at the Bhanjapur Police station, which was later taken over by the EOW.

Kanungo alleged that illegal transactions of Rs 9,56,76,600 has been made from the account of DMF trust maintained with the bank by producing four cheques on April 10 and 18.

“The fraudsters by producing forged or clone cheques managed to transfer Rs 9,56,76,600 from the account of District Mineral Foundation Trust from the District Mineral Foundation Trust account of Zilla Parishad, Mayurbhanj to two different accounts in the name of PT Constructions & Supplier maintained with Bank of Maharashtra and S.K. Enterprises maintained with Punjab & Sind Bank. It was also found that the amount was further diverted to many other accounts from the accounts of PT Constructions & Supplier and S.K. Enterprises,” an EOW source said.

Ajmir was also found involved in two cheque cloning cases registered with EOW, Odisha. This accused is a member of a larger gang having complex networking in different states like Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha.

After his arrest, EOW has got important clues about the entire gang which has been committing such scams for the last four years, an EOW source said.

–IANS