ED attaches Rs 1.05 crore of ex-bank official

BHUBANESWAR: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday attached movable and immovable assets worth Rs 1.05 crore belonging to a former bank official in connection with a cheating case.
The ED had in 2020 registered a money laundering case against Bedabyas Barik, a former cashier of Bank of Maharashtra's Bhubaneswar and Cuttack branches, for allegedly misappropriating Rs 4.78 crore deposits of a customer of the bank during 2008-2012.
The CBI had in April 2019 registered a cheating case against Barik following a complaint lodged by the duped customer, who was identified as Sukanti Barick of Delhi. The ED initiated money laundering probe on the basis of the CBI's FIR and began a simultaneous inquiry in 2020 into the financial aspects of the cheating case.
In December 2008, Barik, who was posted in the bank's Cuttack branch, approached Sukanti and requested her to open a recurring deposit account. Since he was introduced to her by her acquaintance, she opened the account. She deposited total Rs 8 lakh in the RD account for a term of 20 months. In her complaint, she alleged that she handed over the cash to Barik every time for deposit and got receipts.
Barik was later transferred to the Cuttack branch. He again met Sukanti in 2012 and urged her to invest in the banks fixed deposit schemes. She agreed and opened a total 16 FDs worth Rs 2.89 crore in 2012 for one year. Barik gave her the deposit slips and said she would get Rs 4.78 crore after maturity.
After the maturity date of the FDs, she came to know that she did not have a single FD in the bank. When she showed the slips, bank officials told her that those were forged. When she enquired about the Rs 8-lakh RD account, she found that only Rs 2 lakh was deposited in it. After failing to recover the money from the bank and Barik between 2013 and 2019, she approached the CBI in 2019.