Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha arrested two bank officials in connection with a major gold loan fraud amounting to Rs 5.21 crore.
The accused were identified as Chandan Kumar Mahala and Debendra Niranjan Sahu. The two, who were taken into custody on Tuesday, were produced before the Designated Court under OPID Act cum Special Court for EOW at Cuttack.
According to EOW, the case was registered on a written complaint of Peeyus Ranjan Swain, Regional Manager, State Bank of India, Jagatsinghpur. It was alleged that from October 2024 to July 2025, Prashanta Kumar Mallick, Gold Appraiser of SBI, Balichandrapur Branch, Jajpur in conspiracy with others misappropriated public money to the tune of Rs 5,21,42,000/- by recommending/ sanctioning /disbursing 105 gold loans without any proper documentation and by mortgaging spurious/fake gold ornaments.
Chandan Kumar Mahala, who is presently posted as Chief Manager, Administrative Office of SBI in Bhubaneswar, was the Chief Manager of Balichandrapur Branch of SBI and Debendra Niranjan Sahu, was working as Senior Associate-cum-Cash in-charge at SBI, Balichandrapur Branch, Jajpur during the alleged period 2024-2025.
Out of the 105 gold loans sanctioned in a fraudulent manner, Mahala, the then Chief Manager had sanctioned 87 gold loans amounting to Rs 4.38 crores and Debendra Niranjan Sahu, the then Dy. Manager had sanctioned 16 gold loans amounting to Rs 73.85 lakh.
The accused bank officials did not verify the mortgaged gold ornaments with the help of gold valuers empaneled by the bank to test the purity, ensuring of eligibility, compliance with required documents. The total gold limit sanctioned/ disbursed in respect of these 105 loans is Rs 5,21,42,000 and the outstanding loan dues as on 21.07.2025 was Rs 5,23,32,949.8. The gross weight of gold in grams as shown pledged for such sanction/disbursal of 105 gold loans is 10646.58 grams, which was found to be spurious/ fake.
Investigation further revealed that out of 105 loans, 62 accounts were sanctioned without any gold ornaments. Moreover, in these files some loan documents are missing including goldsmith valuation reports and the borrowers’ signatures also found to have been forged.
EOW had earlier arrested accused Prashanta Kumar Mallick in this case on April 21, 2026. He is presently in Judicial custody. Many incriminating documents like mobile phones, pass books and credit/debit cards of different banks have been collected/seized during investigation.