Liquor dealer's son held for duping bank

A 23-year-old was arrested for cheating a private bank to the tune of Rs. 4.2 crore on the pretext of availing auto loans. He wanted to import two high-end luxury cars, the crime branch said on Saturday. HT reports.

A 23-year-old was arrested for cheating a private bank to the tune of Rs. 4.2 crore on the pretext of availing auto loans. He wanted to import two high-end luxury cars, the crime branch said on Saturday.

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The accused, identified as Varun Datta, and his father had made a representation to the bank for a loan to purchase a Bentley Continental GT Speed and a Lamborghini Gallardo, for which they did not pay the outstanding amount to the bank, said SBS Tyagi, DCP (crime and railways).

"The bank relied upon the representation made by the accused and disbursed two loans of Rs. 1.75 crore and Rs. 2.45 crore, respectively for the purchase of the two vehicles. The documents produced by them showed these registered at an address in Gurgaon," said DCP Tyagi.

According to police, apart from not paying their dues to the bank, Datta and his father had also refused to produce the vehicles for examination before the bank authorities.

Later, it was found that the documents submitted by them, pertaining to the import and custom clearance of the luxury vehicles, were forged.

"During the course of investigation, it was revealed that the cars were not even imported. They had submitted fake import/custom clearance bills/ challans to cheat the bank," Tyagi said.

Two employees of the bank, a district agent identified as Pawan Sharma and one regional sales manager, Anuj Bhatia, were subsequently arrested for having facilitated Datta's bid of obtaining such huge loans on the basis of forged documents.

The son of an established liquor distributor, police said Datta lead a lavish lifestyle. His father's role in the fraud is currently being investigated.