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Ludhiana: Jeweller’s staff, aides booked for availing loan against fake gold
The accused have been identified as Shekhar Kapoor of Kashmir Nagar, Budhi Lal of Uttar Pradesh, both employees of Bhola Jewellers of Karimpura Bazar, and their aides Rohit Kumar of Kashmir Nagar, Chinki, Priya Narang, Manga, Hemant Verma, Anjum Khan and Ruby Shankar
The workers of a city-based jeweller, who is authorised by three banks for evaluation of gold before mortgaging, along with their aides managed to avail loan from banks after submitting fake gold. The matter came to the fore when the banks auctioned some of the mortgaged gold, which was found to be fake.
The police lodged an FIR after investigating the matter for nine months. The accused have been identified as Shekhar Kapoor of Kashmir Nagar, Budhi Lal of Uttar Pradesh, both employees of Bhola Jewellers of Karimpura Bazar, and their aides Rohit Kumar of Kashmir Nagar, Chinki, Priya Narang, Manga, Hemant Verma, Anjum Khan and Ruby Shankar.
The police found that the gold loans were issued in the names of Rohit Kumar of Kashmir Nagar, Chinki, Priya Narang, Manga, Hemant Verma, Anjum Khan and Ruby Shankar. The police also suspected that the names were fake. The accused used fake identification proofs to get loans from banks.
The case has been registered following the complaint of Aatamjit Singh of Amarpura, owner of Bhola Jeweller. The complainant stated the jewellery shop has an agreement with three banks, HDFC, Punjab and Sind Bank and Federal Bank, for the evaluation of gold jewellery mortgaged by the banks against loan.
The complainant stated that the accused Budhi Lal was working with him, who is authorised for evaluating gold for one bank, while Shekhar Kapoor does marketing for him. He alleged that Shekhar and Budhi Lal hatched a conspiracy to avail loans using fake gold.
“Budhi Lal used to live on the first floor of the jewellery shop. Shekhar and Budhi Lal stole documents from the shop. They faked documents and made Budhi Lal authorised for the evaluation of gold for all three banks. Budhi Lal’s brother-in-law works at the hallmark centre in Amritsar. The accused procured fake gold jewellery and managed to get it hallmarked from his brother-in-law. The accused furnished fake ID proofs in different names and applied for gold loans.
“I came to know that the accused availed loans amounting to ₹80 lakh from all three banks. After availing the loan, the accused stopped paying instalments. One of the banks auctioned mortgaged gold, which he had bought. When scanned he found the gold was fake. I was shocked to see the jewellery was evaluated by Budhi Lal and informed the bank. Meanwhile, Budhi Lal has stopped coming to work citing ill health of his wife,” said the jeweller.
He lodged a complaint with the police on December 13, 2022, after which an inquiry was marked.
Sub-inspector Amritpal Sharma, SHO at Division number 2, said that a case under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 408 (criminal breach of trust by clerk or servant), 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable, security, will etc,) 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 120- B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC has been lodged against the accused at Division Number 2 police station. A hunt is on for the arrest of the accused.
