Five Including 2 Bank Officials Held for Rs 2.91 Crore Gold Loan Fraud in Telangana

Five including an assistant manager and a former manager of the Union Bank of India were arrested by Telangana Police for cheating the bank of Rs 2.91 crore by certifying imitation gold as genuine.

According to the Rachakonda police, Talloju Sai alias Sainath was working as a gold appraiser at the bank’s Thukkuguda Branch in Hyderabad. Sai wanted to make easy money by getting loans from the bank and gave fake gold to his friends and relatives asking them to come to the bank for loans, the police said. As a gold appraiser at the bank, Sainath certified the imitation gold as genuine, they added.

He mortgaged the fake gold in the name of his friends and relatives and opened 99 accounts in the name of 33 people for the same. Though the accounts were in the name of his friends and relatives, he used to take all the money given out as loans.

The bank manager, Anil Kumar, was suspicious on the quality of the gold and Sai managed him by luring share in the loans. Later, Kumar was transferred to Banswada in Nizamabad district and after his transfer, Deputy Manager Ramawat Pradeep Kumar became a partner in Sai’s manipulations.

Pradeep also left the branch on transfer, following which Yashwant Reddy became the manager. He too suspected Sainath’s activity and lodged a complaint with the police. Sainath was questioned by the police and the real scam came to light.

Along with him, the police also arrested managers Sunil Kumar, Pradeep, auditors Santosh and Sivanath and a car, a two-wheeler and real estate documents were seized from them. The accounts belonging to Sainath and his friends were also seized by the police.

According to the police, the accused had been renewing the loans in a timely manner to prevent them from being auctioned off. Sainath was also working as a Gold Appraiser in Telangana Grameena Vikas Bank from where he had taken a loan of Rs 54.06 lakh.

Police had initially identified that Sainath frequently visited Goa with the illegal money and spent them in casinos. He had also bought a house worth Rs 60 lakh.