The Peenya police have detained a gang of three, including the appraiser of a private bank, for allegedly defrauding the bank of nearly ₹1.5 crore by sanctioning gold loans against fake jewellery using bogus accounts. The prime accused, along with his associate, allegedly colluded with the bank appraiser to run the racket.
According to the police, the accused conspired to create fake bank accounts in the names of acquaintances. The prime accused allegedly lured people into opening accounts by offering them money, claiming their jewellery would be pledged for loans. He allegedly colluded with the appraiser, who was responsible for verifying pledged gold, and then certified imitation jewellery as genuine by exploiting his position.
Based on the appraiser’s valuation, the bank sanctioned gold loans, enabling the accused to siphon off funds. The police suspect the trio created around 15 fake accounts and fraudulently obtained loans amounting to approximately ₹1.5 crore. The appraiser allegedly received ₹2.5 lakh as his share for every ₹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. In a separate incident, the prime accused contacted a businessman, identified as Jagadisha S., and offered to arrange for the purchase of gold pledged with the bank at ₹9,000 per gram, falsely assuring him it could later be sold for ₹13,000 per gram.
After taking ₹1.53 crore from the businessman, the prime accused deposited the amount in the bank to escape legal action, but eventually escaped. When Jagadish did not receive the gold as promised, he approached the Peenya police and filed a complaint on July 28. Based on the complaint, the police registered a case and arrested the prime accused and his associate from their hideout in Karwar.
Based on their confession, the police also detained the appraiser for questioning to ascertain the extent of the fraud.
