Bhubaneswar: The Cyber Crime Unit of Odisha Crime Branch has arrested a bank employee, Khirod Kumar Nayak (39), for allegedly defrauding a senior citizen widow from Cuttack of ₹2.3 crore.
According to an official press release of the Odisha Police, Nayak, a Relationship Manager at Axis Bank’s Badambadi branch in Cuttack, exploited his access and the victim’s trust to siphon off funds from her accounts.
The Cyber Crime Unit has frozen ₹20 lakh in one of Nayak’s accounts with ICICI Bank and seized 32 ATM cards, five passbooks, 37 cheque books, two mobile phones, SIM cards, a laptop, and signed cheques belonging to the victim.
Investigators found that ₹1 crore of the defrauded money had been used to purchase insurance policies in the names of his associates, while the whereabouts of the remaining amount are being probed.
The widow, who was unfamiliar with banking processes, depended on Nayak for managing her finances. Taking advantage of her trust, Nayak persuaded her to divert her savings to fixed deposits under the pretext of better returns. He then fraudulently secured an overdraft (OD) loan against her FD worth ₹2.5 crore and transferred the funds to a third-party account belonging to Sumitra Khuntia at HDFC Bank.
Upon receiving a loan department notification, the victim discovered the unauthorized transactions and found that her registered mobile number had been changed without her knowledge, preventing her from receiving OTPs. She reported the fraud to the police, leading to Nayak’s arrest.
During the investigation, it was revealed that Nayak had been working in the banking sector for 20 years, including six years with Axis Bank. He used his position to develop relationships with customers and manipulate them into signing documents and sharing access to their accounts.
Further investigation in the matter is underway.
