5 arrested for gold loan fraud worth Rs 2.91 crore in Telangana

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

As per a statement from the Rachakonda Police, the complaint was received from R Yashwanth Reddy, Branch Manager of the Tukkuguda branch of the bank, stating that one Thalloju Sainath had been appointed as a gold loan appraiser to confirm the purity and net weight of the gold pledged to the bank to avail loans.

"It came to our notice that the said person is rumoured to have been involved in encouraging spurious gold from his friends and people in his close circle. Subsequently, we engaged the appraiser of the Nadergul Branch, A Madhu Sudhan. After thorough verification by the appraiser, we came to know that out of 429 gold loans in the branch, gold ornaments pledged in 96 gold loan accounts were fake and the total outstanding liability against 96 gold loan accounts as on date was Rs 2.91 Crore and undebited interest thereon," the statement said.

Thalloju Sainath, Amgoth Sunil Kumar, Bank Manager of Union Bank of India, Ramavath Pradeep Kumar, Assistant Manager, Muniganti Santosh Kumar, goldsmith and Thalloji Shivanath have been arrested by the police.

Muniganti Santosh Kumar and Thalloji Shivanath recorded their confessions.

The Modus operandi of the accused persons is the criminal conspiracy to obtain gold loans by pledging spurious gold ornaments with the Union Bank of India. They used to apply for gold loans in the name of known bank customers and pledged spurious gold ornaments with the bank and took gold loans in the name of 33 persons.

"The arrested accused persons are being produced before the Court for judicial custody," the statement added.

( With inputs from ANI )