Dikhyaa Mohanty 
According to a CB official on Sunday, the Cyber Crime Unit of the Odisha Crime Branch has uncovered a racket that was purportedly involved in the misuse of funds of more than Rs 1.04 crores that were placed in the ICICI Bank, Dhenkanal Branch, during 2021–2022. Thus far, the Crime Branch (CB) has taken three people into custody, two of them are couples. The defendants were named as Manoj Kumar Sahoo (29), Swagatika Swain (28), and Prasant Kumar Sahoo, their colleague.
While accused Prasant holds the position of Deputy Bank Manager, Swagatika was assigned as the relationship manager at the private bank’s Dhenkanal branch. When certain bank clients at the Dhenkanal branch reported to the bank authorities about some suspicious unauthorized transactions from their ICICI bank accounts, the fraud came to light.
“The bank had got an internal enquiry done and it was ascertained that fraudulent transactions were carried out in the form of unauthorised overdraft against fixed deposits. Such over-drafts were availed through i-Mobile application, fake investments in mutual funds, pre-closure of FD and misappropriation of premium amounts related to ICICI prudential policy. Swagatika had carried out the alleged disputed transactions for personal gain. All the alleged transactions were done from February 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022,” stated the CB official.
Later, in December of last year, the Financial Crime Prevention Group’s Regional Head of ICICI Bank filed a complaint with the Crime Branch. In this regard, the CB registered a case (33/23) and began an investigation.
