Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing of the Crime Branch Tuesday arrested an associate of a realtor who is accused of duping a nationalised bank of Rs 4.33 crore.
The arrested, Dusmanta Kumar Muduli, is a resident of Samantarapur on the outskirts of the city. However, it is to be noted here that the aforementioned realtor who is also the main accused, Premanand Mohapatra, was arrested May 8.
Premanand is a city-based real estate firm who owned Golden View Infrastructures Pvt Ltd’s MD and Dusmanta was a partner of the firm tasked to oversee the firm’s marketing section. He also played a major role in arranging loans for purchasers.
Sources said the Cuttack Road branch of Canara Bank had sanctioned loans for 35 buyers who wanted to purchase flats in the real estate project named Golden Avenue proposed by the aforementioned realty company at Bijapur in Tamando police limits.
A tripartite agreement among the buyers, the bank and the firm was signed regarding this in September 2014.
Following the agreement, the bank disbursed the amount to the bank account of the real estate firm. However, the firm misappropriated the amount and did not start construction at the site in Bijapur, sources added.
The firm closed down its office as purchasers asked for their apartments while many asked the real estate firm to return their loans.
Subsequently, one of the flat buyers, Prasant Rath of Nayapalli, filed a complaint against Premanand and Dusmanta March 14.
Acting on the complaint, the EOW registered a case (6/18) under Sections 420, 406, 467, 468, 471 and 120(B) of the IPC and Section 6 of the OPID Act and arrested Muduli Tuesday.
Muduli was sent to judicial custody after his bail plea was turned down by a court in Cuttack.