STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against several private individuals and unknown public servants over alleged irregularities in the sanction of Xpress Credit Scheme loans at the SBI Nagaon Branch in Assam. The FIR, numbered RCD172026A0001, was filed by the CBI’s Anti-Corruption Branch in Guwahati under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, as amended in 2018.
According to the FIR, unknown bank officials of the SBI Nagaon Branch allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy with middlemen to sanction and disburse 45 Xpress Credit Loans amounting to approximately Rs 3.79 crore during the 2023–24 period. The loans were reportedly granted on the basis of forged and bogus documents in return for bribes routed through intermediaries. The investigation revealed that the beneficiaries were neither government nor PSU employees, making them ineligible under the scheme’s norms.
The FIR stated that salary credits shown as bulk postings of government or PSU employees were not properly verified at the time of loan processing. In several cases, discrepancies were found between the salary slips submitted and the actual source of salary credits, which allegedly originated from private firms instead of government departments or PSUs.
The CBI further alleged that soon after loan disbursement, portions of the credited amounts were transferred from the borrowers’ accounts to accounts held by suspected middlemen, including Dip Jyoti Saikia, Foizur Rahman, Jadid Khan, Lakhyajeet Saikia and Champu Bora. Some of these funds were subsequently routed to a Punjab National Bank account held by Rumi Kalita, who was named in the FIR as the alleged main conspirator responsible for collecting fake documents and facilitating the loans in collusion with unknown SBI officials.
The agency stated that the loans were sanctioned in violation of prescribed terms and conditions without due verification, allegedly after the officials concerned received illegal gratification through middlemen. The investigation has been entrusted to an inspector of the CBI, ACB Guwahati, and further probe into the role of bank officials and private individuals is underway.
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