Pramesh S Jain
The Peenya police have detained a gang of three including the appraiser of a private bank for allegedly defrauding the bank of nearly Rs.1.5 crore by sanctioning gold loans against fake jewellery using bogus accounts.
The accused have been identified as Nagesh and Shashidhar who colluded with the bank appraiser to run the racket .
Senior officer told reporters that the accused conspired to create fake bank accounts in the names of acquaintances.
Nagesh reportedly lured people into opening accounts by offering them money,claiming their jewellery would be pledged for loans.
He colluded with the appraiser who was responsible for verifying pledged gold,certified imitation jewellery as genuine by exploiting his position.Based on his valuation, the bank sanctioned gold loans,enabling the accused to siphon off funds.
Police suspect the trio created around 15 fake accounts and fraudulently obtained loans amounting to approximately Rs.1.5 crore.
Jagadish allegedly received Rs.2.5 lakh as his share for every Rs.10 lakh loan disbursed.
The fraud reportedly came to light during an internal audit conducted by the bank,which detected irregularities in the pledged gold and loan accounts.
Meanwhile Nagesh contacted a businessman identified as Jagadisha through his friend,offering him that gold pledged with the bank was due for auction and offering to arrange its purchase at Rs.9,000 per gram,falsely assuring it could later be sold for Rs.13,000 per gram.
After taking the money from him,Nagesh deposited the amount in the bank to escape legal action,and escaped .
When Jagadish did not receive the gold as promised,he approached the peenya police and filed a complaint on July 28 .
Based on a complaint,the police registered a case and arrested,Nagesh and Shashidhar from their hideout in Karwar.
Based on their confession the police also detained the appraiser for questioning to ascetain the amount of fruad.Further investigation is underway to ascertain the total financial loss and identify any additional persons involved in the fraud.
