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Gold worth ₹10.47 lakh siphoned off from microfinance firm
Area manager lodged an FIR against branch manager, deputy manager and the auditor of the firm at Siddhauli police station of Lucknow on Tuesday.
Gold worth ₹10.47 lakh, belonging to a lender, was siphoned off from a private microfinance gold firm’s Siddhauli branch in Sitapur by two cousin brothers, who held positions as manager and deputy manager at the gold finance firm, with the connivance of the auditor, said senior police officials on Wednesday. They revealed that the fraud came to light when a lender attempted to claim his gold upon repaying the borrowed amount from the finance firm recently.
Requesting anonymity, a senior police official disclosed that the area manager of the firm, Rahul Raj Singh, filed an FIR against Siddhauli branch manager Atul Kumar, his maternal cousin brother and deputy manager of the branch, Ajit Kumar (both residents of Amroha), and the auditor Vijay Kumar in this regard.
The FIR was lodged at Siddhauli police station under Indian Penal Code sections 419 for cheating by personation and 420 for dishonestly inducing anyone to part with their property on Tuesday.
“The manager and the deputy manager, in collusion with the auditor, replaced the original gold of some customers with artificial gold over the course of one year. An internal inquiry revealed that the auditor is equally culpable as he remained silent despite being aware of the facts and failed to inform senior authorities of the firm,” said the complainant in the FIR.
The forgery perpetrated by the two cousins was exposed when the lender Abhay Kumar Jain arrived to claim the gold he had deposited while settling the loan taken from the firm. Jain discovered that the gold returned to him was not genuine and reported the matter to senior authorities.
“Upon auditing the entire gold inventory stored in the branch, it was discovered that gold belonging to some more clients had been replaced with fake gold. So far, the gold of four clients has been found to be fake, and further screening of the remaining gold items stored in the branch is underway,” added the complainant in the FIR.
The area manager emphasised that the forgery committed by the trio constitutes a criminal act, prompting him to file an FIR for police action against them.
