Bhubaneswar: The economic offences wing (EOW) of the state crime branch on Friday arrested two Chhattisgarh-based businessmen for their alleged role in a Rs 9.56-crore bank fraud involving cloned cheques.According to the EOW, accused Surjit Roy (53) and Sameer Srivastav (54), both residents of Raipur, run two companies in Chhattisgarh. Investigators said the duo is part of a larger interstate syndicate that siphoned off funds from the district mineral foundation trust of Mayurbhanj zilla parishad, whose account is maintained with a nationalised bank in Baripada.According to the officers, the fraud was executed by producing four cloned cheques on April 10 and April 18, 2024. The EOW registered a case on April 19 after taking over the probe from Bhanjapur police.Authorities revealed that Rs 9,56,76,600 was illegally transferred to two accounts under the name of a private firm before being diverted across multiple accounts. The EOW officials managed to block Rs 5.04 crore and freeze Rs 13.56 lakh spread across 33 accounts.“Of the diverted funds, about Rs 45.19 lakh and Rs 39.19 lakh were traced to the accounts of Roy and Srivastav,” an EOW officer said.Police described the duo as “key associates” of a sophisticated gang operating across Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha. The syndicate has allegedly been running cheque-cloning scams for years, using forged instruments, layered money transfers, multiple bank accounts and withdrawals through intermediaries and touts.Between April and July 2024, the EOW arrested three men — Pomesh Tembhare (Madhya Pradesh), Ghanshyam Ahuja (Chhattisgarh) and Ajmir Mondal (West Bengal) — in connection with the racket. Earlier, on March 19 this year, Chhattisgarh businessman Brajesh Mishra was also arrested. “The interrogation of Roy and Srivastav will provide crucial leads that may help dismantle the wider network behind the fraud,” the EOW officer said.
