5 men deposit fake gold to take loan
Five persons, including two employees of Muthoot Finance Corporation, were arrested for taking loans of Rs 2 crore from gold loan companies by depositing fake gold biscuits, coins and ornaments, the police said on Monday.
The arrested have been identified as Sandeep Verma, 36, Dheeraj Sachdeva, 25, Matloob Saifi, 29, Daljeet Singh, 33, and Charanjeet, 56. Dheeraj is a sales manager with Muthoot Fincorp and Matloob worked as a manager in the Muthoot Fincorp’s Karol Bagh branch.
“The dyes used for making the spurious gold biscuits and coins with fake insignias have also been recovered from the accused,” said Sanjay Bhatia, additional deputy commissioner of police (crime).
He also said the action was taken over a complaint by Varun Kumar, area manager of Muthoot Fincorp in Najafgarh, on January 3.
Fake claims
“Varun Kumar had stated that their core business was of financing on gold. Their company also has a Swarna Varsham scheme which enables customers to purchase 24 carat tamper proof 999 purity gold bar,” Bhatia said.
The bars are issued in the denomination of 1, 2, 4, 8, 20 and 100 grams. Muthoot Pappachan logo is also imprinted on the bars.
“Gold inspectors of the bank conduct periodical inspection of some pledged gold in their branches. In one of such inspection, in November 2011, it was found that the gold pledged by three customers was spurious,” Bhatia added.
The police received a tip-off about a gang involved in a racket of taking loans against spurious gold biscuits and coins.
“The accused were arrested near Dwarka Sector 11. They were in a Maruti Swift car,” Bhatia said.
Money sources
The arrested men told police they have taken loan of approximately Rs 18 lakh from Muthoot Fincorp's Najafgarh branch, Rs 40 lakh from Daryaganj branch, Rs 51 lakh from Karol Bagh branch,
Rs 4 lakh from India Info Line Patel Nagar, Rs 11 lakh from Dwarka branch, Rs 3 lakh from Najafgarh branch and Rs 9 lakh from Bhajanpura branch using fake gold.
“Dheeraj and Matloob were responsible for making arrangement for selecting the branches and getting the loan passed,” Bhatia added. Police said they are trying to find out whether the gang took more money than it had admitted.
