The police are trying to find whether jewellers appointed by bank to verify the gold were hand-in-glove with the accused, who is missing
The man was trying to get a loan the fifth time when an alert branch manager became suspicious. Representation pic
The staff of a nationalised bank’s branch at Navghar, Bhayander have found the hard way that ‘all that glitters is not gold.’ A Bhayander resident allegedly duped the bank four times by mortgaging fake gold, and getting a loan of more than Rs 11 lakh for it in July and August. The total loan he received was Rs 11,02,000.
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The Navghar police are trying to find whether the bank-appointed jewellers to verify the gold were hand-in-glove with the accused. No arrests have been made so far and they are looking for the accused.
Manager turned him down
According to the police officers, the incident came to light when the accused, identified as Rajaram Tiwari, went to a different branch of the same bank to get a fifth loan on his fake gold and was turned down. The branch manager lodged a complaint on September 14.
The officers said that when he approached the branch manager, he was turned down and asked to visit the same branch where he had taken loans four times before. The accused left the branch but the manager suspected foul play, and got the gold that Tiwari had mortgaged four different times, checked.
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On checking the gold with another verifier, the bank found that it was fake. In August Tiwari took a Rs 6.19 lakh loan. He had mortgaged 113.66 gm gold on August 2. He again mortgaged 74.67 gm and 91.42 grams of gold on August 3. The bank approached the police who went to Tiwari’s house but found he had left the rented place.
As per the statement given to the police by the manager of the nationalized bank, Tiwari first approached on July 6 seeking a loan against gold and deposited 216.15 gm gold as per the bank rule. The bank, after verifying the gold with its appointed verifier Lalit Jain (Surabhi Jewellers), sanctioned and gave him R4.83 lakh.
Jewellers under scanner
The police have registered a case of cheating and are now questioning Jain, owner of Surabhi jewellers and Arun Soni, owner of Raj Art Jewellers (the bank-appointed jewellers to verify the authenticity of gold) to find how they did not suspect the gold was fake. “We have not made any arrests yet, as we are still investigating the process of authentication of the jewellers,” said Milind Desai, senior inspector from Navghar police station.
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