Dikhyaa Mohanty 
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has charged Sanjeet Granites and Exporters, a private company with offices in Bhubaneswar, and the relevant personnel with defrauding the Bank of Baroda of Rs 323.07 lakh. According to a senior CBI employee, the Bank of Baroda filed a formal complaint at the CBI’s headquarters in Bhubaneswar. According to the complaint, Surendra Pal, the owner of Sanjeet Granites and Exporters, Surendra Pal and Kusani Siva Prasad, corporate guarantors, and partners S.S. Granites Park and Sanjeet Chowdry are all accused of engaging in fraudulent activity.
In the complaint, it was alleged that Sanjeet Granites and Exporters was established as a proprietorship firm on October 6, 2018. The firm was engaged in granite tile processing and sanctioned a term loan of Rs 290 Lacs for purchase of machinery by Bank of Baroda on November 15, 2019. The loan was sanctioned against hypothecation of plant and machinery and equitable mortgage of land and building. The firm had submitted the quotation of Rs 324.38 lakhs of Sodhi Engineering Industries for purchase of plant and machinery. During the inspection and unit visit by the bank official, it was observed that only few machines were available and other machines were not available.
Additionally, it was discovered that the unit was not operating and that just two machines were accessible, contrary to the borrower’s quote for which the bank had issued the term loan amount. The borrower account of Sanjeet Granites and Exporters was labeled as fraudulent in 2022 as a result of missed loan payments, which led to its classification as an NPA in 2021.
The CBI after receiving the complaint have now lodged an FIR of cheating and forgery. Further investigation into the matter is going-on.
