Mumbai Crime: Gold loan fraud busted, 6 arrested for duping banks

Accused told the police they used silver and copper to make the jewellery

The Mumbai crime branch on Sunday arrested six people for allegedly duping a bank of Rs 30.9 lakh by mortgaging fake gold ornaments for loans. The accused, according to the police, have cheated close to 30 branches of different banks in the city by availing gold loans worth over Rs 2 crore.

The scam came to light when Kotak Mahindra Bank held an auction in March to recover the loan given to the accused. Siddhanath Jewellers purchased three pendants at the auction and paid Rs 1,64,996 for about 40 gms of gold, Sunil Bajare, Senior Inspector, Property Cell, told mid-day. The jeweller later discovered that the ornaments had only 23 grams of gold, he added. The firm contacted other bidders and learnt that even they have received fake ornaments, which amounted to Rs 29,34,996.

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They immediately informed the bank, which then contacted the police and reported the alleged crime. The police registered an FIR under Sections 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 471(using forged document as genuine) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. The case was then transferred to the Property Cell of the Mumbai crime branch.

The police finally arrested the accused, identified as Ramesh Soni, Dinesh Soni, Vimal Soni , Anilkumar Swami, Prashant Narayan, and Neetu Valiyil, on Sunday from Vasai-Virar area.

During interrogation, they told the cops that they made the jewelleries using silver and copper, and polished it with thin layer of gold. "We have recovered thin layers of sheets of gold, silver powder and coppers," Bajare said.

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