DW BUREAU / Bhubaneswar

Following the arrest of six people in connection with a bank loan fraud of Rs 16.71 crore in Odisha, PhonePe Private Limited ("PhonePe") has said that the arrested persons are in no way associated with PhonePe or its employees at any point of time. "Such persons have never been employed by the company and that any documents in relation to PhonePe used by such persons are forged documents," said a press statement issued on behalf of PhonePe. It may be mentioned that the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) probing the case had said that that based on a complaint by Shiba Sundara Sahoo, Regional Manager, State Bank of India, Bhubaneswar, the EOW launched an investigation after registering a case on August 12.

The accused persons availed 161 Xpress Credit Loans worth Rs 16.71 crore from different branches of the SBI in Bhubaneswar from November 2022 to October 2023 by producing fake and fabricated employment records as employees of PhonePe Pvt. Ltd. The statement on behalf of PhonePe said that the persons falsely representing themselves as employees of PhonePe to avail loans from State Bank of India under fraudulent pretense. PhonePe has no connection with them. "PhonePe is a law-abiding organization and has been cooperating and working closely with the Economic Offenses Wing of the Odisha Police and State Bank of India to aid their investigation. We shall continue to do as and when called upon. Needless to state, PhonePe condemns the actions by such persons for their unauthorized and illegal use of PhonePe's brand and goodwill," the statement further reads.
(editor@dailyworld.in)