JOIN USFive dupe bank, obtain Rs 33-crore gold loan
Five fraudsters were arrested for obtaining a gold loan worth Rs 33 crore from a bank by pledging jewellery that they tried to pass it off as yellow metal.
Officials of Dhanalakshmi Bank filed a complaint with the economic offences wing of the Delhi Police after they got suspicious and tested the pledged metal. “During an internal inspection, it was found that gold content in the ornaments pledged by Somnath Bobal of PishoriLal & Sons was found negligible. On the basis of this, a case was registered and investigation taken up,” said DCP (Economic Offences Wing) Mangesh Kashyap.
“After a detailed investigation, we were able to crack the case and arrest five people, including bank officials, for swindling public money,” he added.
The accused have been identified as Ram Prakash, 31, Vijay Manchanda, 55, Dushyant Manchanda, 20, Satrughan Nayak, 32, and Ravinder Kumar, 40.
Police said that two groups, one led by Bobal and the other by Vijay Manchanda established contact with the bank for the first time in 2010.
Three years later, Bobal along with his 14 associates managed to get Rs 21.60 crore loan in 77 gold loans from the Karol Bagh and Connaught Place branches. The branch officials and bank appraiser, who evaluates gold content, connived to help the accused procure loan against ornaments that had negligible gold content.
Once the loan amount was released by the bank, it was deposited in the accounts of Bobal’s associates. After this, the amount was transferred to Bobal’s other account in the same bank. And subsequently, the amount was withdrawn by the accused.
Manchanda, along with his associates, used the same modus operandi in defrauding the bank of Rs 11 crore. The police claimed that the gold loan availed at 12 per cent rate of interest was further lent in the market at an exorbitant rate of 20 to 24 per cent.
Police said that more arrests in the case are likely.