SBI loses Rs 1.8 cr in home loan fraud

The State Bank of India (SBI) lost Rs 1.8 crore to five fraudsters who got home loans by submitting fake identity and property documents. The transactions were suspiciously timed: they all happened during the SBI’s merger with its subsidiary, the State Bank of Mysore (SBM), in 2017.

The Suryanagar police have registered FIRs against the five people, among them a woman, following separate complaints from the SBI’s Suryanagar branch manager, Srividya S.

Abdur Kaleem, of Neelasandra; Ranjan Gowda, of Rose Garden, JP Nagar; Suma Suresh, of Sanjivaninagar, Moodalapalya; Prabhakar Muniyappa, of Lakshmipura, Kempegowda Nagar; and Vinay Vasudev, of Srinagar, were booked under IPC section 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating).

The five cases

Kaleem borrowed Rs 36 lakh after submitting the documents of a flat he is said to have purchased at the Urban Retreat apartment in Heelalige. The loan process and disbursement happened around July 2016.

Gowda took a home loan of Rs 36 lakh in August 2016 by furnishing the documents of a flat at Classic Champakadhama apartment at Harappanahalli village in Jigani hobli, Anekal taluk.

Around the same time, Suma took a loan of Rs 30 lakh for a flat in the same apartment.

In October 2016, Muniyappa took Rs 25.6 lakh after submitting the documents of a flat at Prabhavathi Paramount apartment at Kammasandra in Attibele hobli, Anekal
taluk.

In February 2017, Vasudev took a loan of Rs 54 lakh for a flat at Sri Sai Kamal Nivas apartment at Gubbalala in Uttarahalli hobli.

All of them defaulted on their EMIs. A scrutiny by the bank found that all their documents were forged.

The bank declared the loans non-performing assets (NPAs) and filed criminal complaints.

‘Clear case of conspiracy’

A senior police officer said the investigation was exploring different angles.

“It’s too early to say whether the staff in the bank’s loan section, who are all permanent employees, were hand in glove with the suspects. But we believe the loans were processed during the merger and there was clearly a conspiracy behind it.”