Bhubaneswar, April 22 (IANS) The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Police has arrested a bank employee, who is currently placed under suspension, on charges of misappropriating public funds to the tune of Rs 5.21 crore, a senior police official said on Wednesday.
The accused identified as Prashanta Kumar Mallick was working as Senior Associate-cum-Cash In-charge and also performing the duties as a gold appraiser at State Bank of India’s (SBI) Balichandrapur branch in Jagatsinghpur district.
The EOW arrested Mallick in connection with a case registered on February 10, 2026, based on a complaint lodged by Peeyus Ranjan Swain, SBI Regional Manager at Jagatsinghpur.
Swain, in the complaint, alleged that during the period from October 2024 to July 2025, the accused Mallick, as a gold appraiser, misappropriated public money to the tune of Rs 5,21,42,000 by sanctioning and disbursing 105 gold loans without proper documentation or original gold ornaments.
Mallick’s duty as a gold appraiser is to appraise and verify gold ornaments with the help of goldsmith, ensuring eligibility and compliance with required documents, recommending gold loans for sanction, maintaining custody of executed loan documents and joint custody of pledged gold ornaments along with the Service Manager.
The police during investigation found that during a routine visit by Manorama Rout, SBI Chief Manager at Balasore, in the year 2025, accused Mallick failed to produce files concerning the gold loans sanctioned by the SBI’s Balichandrapur branch.
He later absconded from there without any intimation.
“Suspecting foul play, Rout conducted an immediate spot audit of gold loan accounts, followed by a detailed internal investigation, and found that accused Mallick had fraudulently processed 105 gold loan accounts, of which 31 involved pledging spurious or fake gold ornaments, while 74 were sanctioned without any gold ornaments,” the EOW official noted.
The senior official also said that several loan documents, including goldsmith valuation reports, were missing and that borrower signatures had been forged.
The investigation also revealed that Mallick, after sanctioning and disbursing the loans, deliberately diverted the funds to his own and other accounts and misappropriated them.
Following the investigation, the EOW sleuths arrested the absconding accused Mallick from Bhubaneswar on April 21.
He was on Wednesday produced before the court that later sent him to judicial custody.
–IANS
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