A 42-year-old film director and his goldsmith friend who conspired to cheat a bank by pledging fake gold jewellery were arrested by the Rajajinagar police.
A complaint by Federal Bank manager Bharath said movie maker Karamala Balu Ravindranath and goldsmith Shiva Kumar, both aged 42, approached the bank a year ago asking for a mortgage loan.
Ravindranath filed the application pledging 1.05 kg of gold jewellery, including chains and rings, to receive the loan of Rs 42 lakh. After taking the loan, Ravindranath did not pay EMI for a year and failed to respond to the bank’s notices to pay the dues. So, the bank went ahead and auctioned the pledged jewellery.
The person who bought the jewellery had it checked by their goldsmith and confirmed that only 40% of the metal used was gold. The buyer informed the bank, following which Bharath filed a police complaint.
Police put Ravindranath’s house under surveillance. They received a tip-off on Tuesday morning about his movements and arrested him, besides also nabbing goldsmith Shiva Kumar.
Police were able to recover only Rs 2.5 lakh. They said Ravindranath and Kumar belong to the same community and have been friends for a long time. The duo made the jewellery with the plan to cheat the bank. They had earlier pledged the gold with a Kerala-based bank, through which they took the loan in Federal Bank.
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