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Mangaluru: A case has been registered against a man for allegedly pledging 101.85 grams of fake gold ornaments at Puttur Moorthedara Seva Sahakari Sangha to avail of loans.
In a complaint, executive officer of the sangha Savitha M said that on August 5, the accused, Vinod K, visited the society's branch, opened an account, and pledged a 32.5-g gold chain to avail of a loan.
The ornament was examined by the society’s appraiser, Srinivasa Acharya, who confirmed it to be genuine gold. After verification, the accused was sanctioned a loan of Rs 2,00,000. Subsequently, on August 6, the accused again visited the cooperative society and pledged a 17-g gold necklace. After the appraiser confirmed it as genuine, the staff verified it and sanctioned a loan of Rs 1,10,000 in cash. Later, on August 26, the accused returned to the society’s office and pledged a 52-g gold chain and two bracelets. Upon verification and confirmation by the appraiser that the jewellery was genuine, the staff processed and granted another loan of Rs 1,10,000.
On September 4, the accused repaid Rs 2,00,000 along with Rs 2,140 interest to get the jewellery pledged on August 5 released. However, on the same day, he pledged the same gold ornaments again and obtained another loan of Rs 2,10,000.
On October 17, after reading reports in newspapers about a man defrauding other cooperative societies using fake gold ornaments, the complainant grew suspicious that the accused might have done the same and got the pledged gold tested at Balaji Enterprises in Puttur. The examination revealed that 101.85 grams of ornaments pledged by Vinod were fake.
Accordingly, a case has been registered at the Puttur Town Station under Sections 316(2) and 318(4) of the BNS.