EOW arrests two more bank officers in Rs 5.21 crore gold loan fraud case

Bhubaneswar: In a latest development in the SBI Gold loan fraud in Jagatsinghpur, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha Police has arrested two more bank employees in connection with the case.

According to reports, the arrested duo has been identified as Chandan Kumar Mahala and Debendra Niaranjan Sahu.

Both the SBI bank officials were allegedly involved in misappropriation of Rs 5.21 crore through 105 fraudulent gold loan disbursements at the State Bank of India’s Balichandrapur branch in Jagatsinghpur district.

It was alleged that ,more than 10,000 pieces of the gold jewellery deposited for the loan were fake and nearly 62 loans were reportedly disbursed without proper gold ornaments.

Several loan files were found to be incomplete, missing critical documents such as goldsmith valuation reports, and contained forged signatures of borrowers.

Earlier, EOW had arrested Prashanta Kumar Mallick, a gold appraiser at the State Bank of India branch in connection with the case.

The fraud came to light during a routine visit by Chief Manager Manorama Rout from SBI Balasore in 2025. During inspection, Mallick failed to produce the relevant gold loan files and absconded without notice.

Suspecting irregularities, Rout ordered an immediate spot audit followed by a detailed internal probe. The investigation revealed that Mallick, who had been serving as senior associate-cum-cash in-charge at the branch since June 2022, sanctioned and disbursed 105 gold loans totalling Rs 5,21,42,000 without proper documentation or genuine gold ornaments as security in between October 2024 and July 2025.

The case was registered on February 10, 2026, based on a complaint filed by Peeyus Ranjan Swain, Regional Manager of SBI Jagatsinghpur.