Debtor arrested 13 years after using fake gold to get ₹76L loan

Police suspect the bank’s manager is also in on the fraud as he checked the gold before approving loan

MUMBAI: Nine years after a bank realised fake gold ornaments were used as collateral to secure loans, the Mira-Bhayandar-Vasai-Virar (MBVV) police arrested the absconding borrower on Saturday. The bank manager is also suspected of being involved in the fraud, said a crime branch officer.

Police suspect the bank’s manager is also in on the fraud as he checked the gold before approving loan (Shutterstock)

In 2012, the accused, Gopal Radheshyam Nag, 42, had taken a loan of ₹76 lakh by pledging some gold ornaments. The complainant, a bank employee, said that the manager checked the gold and sanctioned the loan on December 15, 2012. However, from June 14, 2016, when the EMIs bounced, the bank tried to sell the collateral and discovered the ornaments were imitation jewellery, said the complainant. The accused began absconding and assumed a different name to evade authorities, said an officer from Crime Branch Unit 1 of MBVV police.

The Economic Offences Wing of the MBVV police registered a case against Nag and the bank manager in 2016 under Sections 408 (criminal breach of trust by a clerk or servant), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery committed with the intent to cheat), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Based on technical analysis of the accused’s mobile phone and confidential intelligence, the police nabbed Gopal from his house on Saturday.

“We have arrested the accused and handed him over to the EOW officers. They are now investigating the role of the manager in the scam,” said a police officer from the Crime branch.