The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday registered a case against four officials of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) as well as the employees of a private company in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar in an alleged case of loan fraud amounting to Rs 31.92 crore.

Officials of the probe agency said a case was registered under section 120-B and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 13(2) and 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act against four PNB employees, including its former chief manager, and managing director of a company named Globaal Trading Solutions.

PNB officials had entered into a conspiracy with the private firm through its directors for sanction of a loan without verifying the genuineness of the business activities of the company between 2010 and 2015, CBI said.

The private company had illegally diverted funds received from PNB to its group companies and misutilised them beyond the scope of funds sanctioned.

Based on a complaint filed by the current manager of PNB of the Station Square branch of Bhubaneswar, CBI interrogated the bank officials as well as those of the private company.