The Economic Offences Wing in Bhubaneswar has arrested three persons including two officers of Punjab National Bank (PNB) in connection with a loan fraud amounting to Rs 3.68 crore. The accused persons have been identified as former chief manager Birendra Kumar Pattanayak and field officer Narendra Nayak of PNB’s Bapuji Nagar Branch, and middleman Prakash Kumar Behera. The arrest took place on January 24.As per a complaint filed by one Prasant Kumar Mohapatra, the accused bank officials in criminal conspiracy with the partners of Lingaraj Enterprises and others had extended business loans to the tune of Rs 3.5 crore in favor of one Lingaraj Enterprises against mortgage of residential duplexes of the complainant without his knowledge.The said property documents were deposited by the complainant in the bank for availing a loan of Rs 10 lakh for him.Investigation revealed that during 2017, Mohapatra had deposited the documents of his two duplexes at Balianta at the instance of the accused Bank Officials, to avail a loan of Rs 10 lakh. But the accused bank officials in conspiracy with the middle man Prakash Behera and others used the said documents of the complainant in pledging and sanctioning a loan of Rs 3.5 crore to Lingaraj Enterprises beyond the knowledge and consent of the complainant.The said loan account of Lingaraj Enterprises turned to NPA in 2018 having an outstanding loan amount to the tune of Rs 3.68 crore. The complainant Mohapatra came to know about the fraudulent act of the accused persons only when he was served notice under SARFAESI Act by the Bank during November 2018.It was found on investigation that, an amount of Rs 1.5 crore from the sanctioned loan amount has been diverted to the account of accused middleman Behera and an amount of Rs 10 lakh was subsequently diverted to the account of the complainant to make him believe that the amount is his loan amount.Again, several debit transactions have been made from the account of Behera. Further, many incriminating documents have been seized during the house search of accused Behera, and the same is under scrutiny.The accused persons, earlier have also adopted a similar modus operandi in sanctioning a loan of Rs 2.5 crore for KP Solutions against mortgage of forged land documents and by impersonating the mortgagers. Investigation of the case is continuing to identify and nab the other accused persons involved in both cases.Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here.