3 booked for forging jailed man’s signature to get ₹6.28 cr loan

A man, his wife, and son face charges for allegedly forging documents to secure a ₹6.28 crore loan using his jailed brother as a co-applicant.

A man, his wife and their son were booked for allegedly forging documents and signatures of the man’s brother to get a ₹6.28 crore loan from various banking and non-banking financial institutions by showing him as a co-applicant, while he was in jail in 2018, police said on Thursday.

Investigators said loans were taken between August 30, 2017 and August 30, 2018.

They said the fraud came to light in the last three months when the victim, Sushil Kumar, 54, a resident of Central Park-II in Sector-48, tried to get loans for his business. However, his applications were repeatedly rejected due to poor credit scores.

Kumar approached bank officials for help and learned that ₹6.28 crore was already disbursed in the name of his brother and other family members. He then filed a complaint with the police. The loans had been partially repaid and settled, police added.

Investigators said loans were taken between August 30, 2017 and August 30, 2018, a period that almost overlaps with the time Kumar was in jail, from July 6, 2017 to July 31, 2018, after being arrested in a criminal case.

Officials said that all the six loans, with the maximum amount of ₹2.48 crore, was closed by February 28, 2023.

A senior police official said that all the six loans were settled by making partial payments, while the rest were written-off. “The loan of ₹74.55 lakh was settled after a bank had written off ₹28.56 lakh. Another loan of ₹2.48 crore was settled and bank had to write off ₹89.56 lakh,” he said.

“Third loan amounting ₹59.31 lakh was settled by bank writing-off ₹21.58 lakh,” he added.

Officer said that Kumar and his brother lived in DLF Phase-III and were running a family business. “The victim alleged that his brother had all his documents which were forged to apply for the loans,” he said.

Sandeep Turan, public relations officer of Gurugram police, said that someone might have impersonated Kumar for the verification process. “The role of bank officials who cleared the loans are also under scanner,” he said.

Turan said that things will be ascertained after the documents are seized for investigation. “The bank branches concerned will be served notices and action will be taken against the suspects,” he added.

On Kumar’s complaint, an FIR was registered under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document of electronic record) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Sector-14 police station on Monday.