THE CBI sleuths here have commenced investigation into a multi-crore rupees housing loan scam involving some builders and hundreds of employees (borrowers) of the defence establishments.
The scam came to the light after the State Bank of India DGM (vigilance) reported the matter to the agency. CBI DSP F B Karna refused to shed light on the scam. “At this juncture, I can’t comment”, he quipped.
The agency has started quizzing the civilian employees concerned of the defence establishments – Ordnance Factory Khamaria (OFK), Gun Carriage Factory (GCF), Vehicle Factory Jabalpur (VFJ), Grey Iron Foundry (GIF), Central Ordnance Depot (COD), 506 Army Base Work, 1 Technical Training Regiment, Army and 1 Signal Training Centre, Army.
About the modus operandi, sources in the CBI said that the builders, mainly Kanchi Builders, Sai Construction and Welcome Builders in collusion with some 500 borrower employees took loans from the SBI on forged documents, particularly inflated pay slips. In many cases, the houses against which the fat loans amounting to Rs 14 crore were taken from SBI, had not actually come up.
Sources in CBI said that the agency might question some SBI officers too because it believes that without their involvement the scam couldn’t have taken the shape.
The CBI officials are trying hard to complete the investigation in six months and file charge sheet. Meanwhile, according to well-placed sources, a top GCF official was not co-operating with the CBI, stating this was the ‘personal’ matter of the employees and it was and unproductive to relieve its staffers from duty during working hours to help the agency in investigations.
The CBI officials are trying hard to complete the investigation in six months and file charge sheet. Meanwhile, according to well-placed sources, a top GCF official was not co-operating with the CBI, stating this was the ‘personal’ matter of the employees and it was and unproductive to relieve its staffers from duty during working hours to help the agency in investigations.