Lucknow’s own ‘Bunty and Babli’ land in STF net

The couple’s frauds, mostly with banks, ran into crores of rupees and their fleet of seven vehicles included a ₹74-lakh luxury car. Four criminal cases had been lodged against them and a reward of ₹ 12,000 each announced for their arrest.

This couple lived life king-size, stayed in a big house in the posh Gomti Nagar and travelled in luxury vehicles. Everything was fine except that they were big frauds, a la the protagonists of Bollywood pot-boiler ‘Bunty aur Babli’.

The latest case was lodged against the couple by Vijaya Bank at Hazratganj police station.

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The couple’s frauds, mostly with banks, ran into crores of rupees and their fleet of seven vehicles included a ₹74-lakh luxury car.

Recently the couple fraudulently procured nearly ₹5 crore from different banks and did not pay back the loans back. They presently own assets worth several crores.

Four criminal cases had been lodged against them and a reward of ₹ 12,000 each announced for their arrest.

However, on Wednesday night the ‘success’ run of Suraj Mishra (37) and Shalini Mishra alias Shalu (34) came to an end when they landed in the net of UP Special Task Force (STF).

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The couple’s frauds, mostly with banks, ran into crores of rupees and their fleet of seven vehicles included a ₹74-lakh luxury car. Four criminal cases had been lodged against them and a reward of ₹ 12,000 each announced for their arrest.

The latest case was lodged against the couple by Vijaya Bank at Hazratganj police station three months ago while two cases were registered against them with Vikas Nagar police and one at Jankipuram police station.

“The story of Suraj, who is just Class 2 pass and Shalu, who is Class 5 pass, is of rags to riches,” said STF’s additional superintendent of police (ASP) Arvind Chaturvedi.

He said the couple fraudulently procured nearly ₹5 crore from different banks and did not pay back the loans back. They presently own assets worth several crores, he added.

Chaturvedi said the couple invested the loan money in transportation business. “From two old trucks in 2008, the couple presently owns 24 oil tankers that are attached to an oil company and provides earning of several lakh per month,” he added.

“Most of the loans taken to purchase tankers were procured fraudulently,” he said and added that the couple mortgaged their ‘one’ plot in Gudamba to take loans from ‘three’ different banks.

Chaturvedi said Suraj’s father was small-time cloth trader in Kolkata and also worked as sales agent at different shops there. He said Suraj shifted his base to Lucknow and started a business of electronic goods in Naka market.

“Suraj later met Shalu, who belongs to Muslim family of Kanpur, and married her in 2005. The couple have two kids — an 11-year-old son and three-year-old daughter,” he said.

The ASP said Suraj also started looking after the business of Shalu’s father – building bodies of trucks and tankers -- in Kanpur.

“Suraj then started the trick of taking loans on forged papers -- when he purchased two olds trucks -- to start transportation work in 2008.

“Suraj revealed that he learned the trick of defrauding banks from two bank employees, who helped him in getting his first loan,” the ASP said and added that Suraj named a Vijaya Bank official of AGM rank, who was earlier posted in Lucknow and now in Kolkata, for helping him in getting the loan on forged documents in return of 10 percent commission.

STF is collecting details about the couple’s assets and their other frauds. Also, a letter will be written to Vijaya Bank to confirm the role of the bank official.