Bubaneswar: CBI seizes 38 lakh from bank locker of PNB 'scam' accused

BHUBANESWAR: The CBI, which is probing the alleged scam involving nearly Rs 32 crore in Punjab National Bank's Station Square branch here, seized about Rs 38 lakh in cash from the bank locker of one of the accused on Tuesday.
The cash was found in the locker of Kaushik Mohanty, a former director of the city-based Global Trading Solutions, a private company that faces charges of defrauding the bank of nearly Rs 32 crore between 2010 and 2015.
"We have been examining the bank accounts and transactions of the accused persons. During the search, we found that Mohanty owned a locker at a nationalized bank in the Patia area and had stashed Rs 37.90 lakh in cash in it. The money has been seized," a CBI officer said.
On June 9, the CBI had registered cases against Global Trading Solutions and four of its employees - managing director Abhinash Mohanty, director Bidyabhusan Mohanty and two former directors Anshuman Samantaray and Kaushik Mohanty - for defrauding the bank.
Cases had also been registered against the PNB branch's former chief managers Nagmani Satyanarayana Prasad and Manoranjan Dash, former assistant general manager S C Sharma and former senior manager Priyotosh Das for their alleged collusion with the private firm.
According to the allegations, the PNB branch's former officials allegedly conspired with the private company and committed fraud in the processing, sanctioning and disbursing of Rs 32 crore cash credit facility to the firm during 2010-15. The private company allegedly diverted the funds illegally to its sister concerns and misused the money.
The CBI has not arrested anyone in the case. The enforcement directorate (ED) also started parallel investigation into the scam on Monday. The CBI and the ED said the accused persons had absconded.