Bizman's son dupes bank of Rs 4.2 crore

Held with bankers who sanctioned loans

A 23-year-old youth has been arrested for allegedly cheating HDFC Bank to the tune of Rs 4.2 crore on the pretext of availing auto loans for importing two high-end luxury cars, police said on Saturday.

Varun Dutta of Sarita Vihar was held over a complaint of HDFC Bank’s risk intelligence and control unit.

“It is alleged that Varun and his father Sanjeev made a representation to HDFC Bank’s Vasant Vihar branch for availing loan facilities for purchasing cars,” said S B S Tyagi, deputy commissioner of police (crime and railways).

The bank relied upon the representation and disbursed two loans of Rs 1.75 crore and Rs 2.45 crore for purchasing Bentley Continental GT Speed and Lamborghini Gallardo cars respectively. However, it was found that the documents submitted by the accused pertaining to the custom clearance of the cars were forged.

Accordingly, a case of cheating was lodged with Crime Branch police station on October 19 and Varun was arrested.

During the course of investigation, it was found that the cars were not even imported and fake custom clearance bills were submitted to cheat the bank.

“One employee of a reputed direct selling agent of HDFC Bank, Pawan Sharma, and a regional sales manager of the bank, Anuj Bhatia, facilitated Varun to obtain loans on the basis of the forged documents. Both of them have also been arrested,” Tyagi added.

Varun’s father Sanjeev’s role in the case is also being ascertained. Sanjeev runs a business of distributorship of popular liquour brands in Delhi and UP.

After sustained interrogation, it has come to light that Varun has no known independent source of income and intermittently assists his father’s business.

“He was also questioned by the directorate of revenue intelligence for his alleged link with a gang involved in importing luxury cars in the name of some diplomats in 2011,” Tyagi said.