Odisha Vigilance Busts Crime Syndicate; Live-in Couple Arrested in Rs 1.08 Crore KCC Bank Fraud

Bhubaneswar (Special Correspondent, The Fact Bureau): Odisha Vigilance on Wednesday arrested two alleged fraudsters, linked to the Branch Manager of Koraput Central Co-operative Bank, Malkangiri branch, in connection with the embezzlement of government funds worth Rs 1.08 crore.

The arrested accused have been identified as Sushree Nibedita Tarai and her live-in partner Nrusingh Prasad Khamari. They were allegedly associated with Sudhansu Khora, Branch Manager of KCC Bank, who was arrested by Vigilance on May 5 and is currently under police remand for interrogation.

According to Vigilance officials, investigation into the money trail revealed that Khora had allegedly transferred nearly Rs 63 lakh from the misappropriated funds to Tarai and Khamari as part of a conspiracy to avoid detection.

The vigilance sleuths further said Khora came into contact with Tarai, also known as Sushree Sulagna, through Facebook, following which they allegedly planned the fraud together.

During interrogation, Vigilance officials found that the duo was allegedly involved in multiple fraud activities across different districts.

A fraud case involving Rs 14 lakh has reportedly been registered against Khamari in the Bangalore Police Commissionerate area.

The duo is also suspected of cheating another person of Rs 30 lakh in Jagatsinghpur, while similar frauds are being probed in Baripada, Paradip and Bhubaneswar.

Vigilance teams are currently scrutinising 25 bank accounts and 12 stock trading accounts linked to the accused to trace the money trail and identify other possible frauds.

During house searches conducted in Bhubaneswar and Khordha, officials seized 33 mobile phones, of which 27 were allegedly damaged to destroy evidence.

Apart from this, a desktop computer, tablet, jewellery purchased using the misappropriated funds, a drone and high-end cameras were also recovered.

Odisha Vigilance suspects that Sudhansu Khora and Sushree Nibedita Tarai were operating a larger crime syndicate aimed at illegally enriching themselves through cheating and financial fraud.

Further investigation into the case is underway.