Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the state Crime Branch Friday arrested four persons who, in collusion with a former employee of Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) here, misappropriated funds to the tune `1.30 crore.
The accused persons were identified as T Pandu Ranga Rao of Chandanada village in Vishakhapatnam, Achyutananda Das of Rahania village under the Bhandaripokhari police station limits in Bhadrak, Ranjat Kumar Sadangi of Hartnagar under Bhanjanagar police station limits in Ganjam and Vinod Kumar Singh of Matapher Chawl in Tembi Pada Road under the Bhandup police station limits in Bhandup (West), Mumbai.
According to sources, the accused, who are owners of travel agencies and stationery suppliers, had taken excess money from the RMRC for their legal service dues. They were helped by ex-steno of RMRC, Dillip Kumar Mohanty, who was arrested by the EOW March 28, 2016. They duped the premier organisation by producing fraud cheques and fake inflated bills. Rao, the owner of NVT Packers and Movers, had wrongfully collected `3 lakh excess amount while Das, the owner of Nirupama Travels, collected `13.23 lakh from the RMRC through wrongful billing and fabricated
documents.
Similarly, Ranjit Kumar Sarangi, proprietor of Spens here duped `2.60 lakhs and Singh, owner of Bindu Diagnostic collected excess amount of `8.25 lakhs.
The fraud came to light after a case(6/16) under sections 420,409,467,468,471,477(A) and 120(B) of the IPC was filed by the administrative officer of RMRC with the EOW in March 2016.The accused persons were sent to judicial custody after being produced before the SDJM count here Friday.