Police raids Odia daily 'Sambad' office on loan fraud allegation

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha Police raided the office of leading Odia daily Sambad, owned by senior BJD leader and Khandapada MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, officials said.

The raids were conducted by separate teams of EOW on Monday after the investigating wing registered a case under different sections of the IPC including 420 (cheating) and 120-B (conspiracy), an official statement said, adding that the sleuths seized important documents.

In a statement, Sambad clarified that they fully cooperated with the enforcement agency and termed the entire issue "a clear case of political vendetta and an attack on the freedom of the press." The ruling BJD on September 12 had removed Patnaik from the post of party's vice-president after he wrote certain editorial pieces (on August 8 and August 27) and made statements on television channels raising questions on the rise of bureaucratic influence in the government and the party.

The case has been registered following allegations that a large number of employees of Sambad were forced to take personal loans under threat.

The loan amount running into crores of rupees was not given to the employees but allegedly used by their employer company Eastern Media Limited Bhubaneswar, the statement said.

The case was registered on September 16 this year against Baijyanti Kar (HR Manager), Soumya Ranjan Patnaik (Editor) and others following a complaint by Asim Mohapatra, an ex-employee of Sambad/Eastern Media Limited Bhubaneswar.

Mohapatra, in his complaint, made serious allegations of bank loan fraud involving cheating, forgery and criminal intimidation.

He was allegedly forced by the accused to sign some bank loan forms against his will and paying capacity, officials said.

He was allegedly threatened that if he did not follow the diktat, he would lose his job. Under this threat and pressure, he was forced to sign many blank forms/documents including some blank cheques by the accused persons, the EOW said in the FIR.

The former employee said he did not know the details, but later came to know that a loan of Rs 5 lakh was taken in his name but it was actually used by Sambad/Eastern Media Limited, Bhubaneswar.

"He did not get a single penny out of this loan. He was forced to sign for such loans on two different occasions in two different banks," the EOW statement said.

"More than 300 employees of Sambad/Eastern Media limited were forced to sign on forged documents and about Rs 50 crore have thus been fraudulently secured by Soumya Ranjan Patnaik using these forged papers," the EOW statement said.

During the course of the investigation, the EOW said some vital witnesses have been examined.

"During the search in Sambad office, a number of incriminating documents have been collected. So far, 15-20 ex-employees of Sambad have come forward with complaints of such forceful loans taken against their names using forged documents," the EOW said.

Meanwhile, Sambad in a statement said they fully cooperated with the enforcement agency and provided all documents as per their request.

"We are fully committed to further cooperating in the investigation as we have nothing to hide and believe there is no truth to the allegations," the statement said, adding that they were yet to get a copy of the FIR.

The statement added that while the press release by EOW states that Mohapatra filed the complaint on September 16, he had allegedly taken the loan in 2015, which raises serious questions about the timing, veracity and mala fide intent of the complaint.

"Considering the critical questions raised by Sambad regarding the functioning of the government, this entire issue is a clear case of political vendetta and an attack on the freedom of the press," the statement added.