Odisha: Berhampur police arrest two persons in Rs 24 lakh fraud case

Bhubaneswar: The Berhampur police on Wednesday arrested two fraudsters on charges of cheating a person and some banks of Rs 24 lakhs by fraudulently availing a loan by mortgaging fake gold ornaments as collateral.

The accused were identified as Biswajit Kar, 42, of Sahadebkhunta in Balasore district and Abhinab Srivastab, 26, of Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh. The police sources also revealed that the prime accused in the case is identified as SK.

Manjur Elahi (39), a resident of Baleswar Town in Balasore district, has also been detained. The accused persons were arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by one P. Purushottam (50) on Tuesday.

Purushottam, in his complaint, alleged that he has known the accused persons for the last 8-10 years as they all work in a Hatchery(shrimps) farm at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. “On 27 January, accused persons Elahi, Kar, and Sribastav had come to Berhampur and met the victim at the hotel. They asked him to take a gold loan from different banks in his name. They lured the victim by offering him a commission,” said a police official.

The police official further added that when the victim questioned why they were availing the gold loan in his name, they convinced him, saying that they couldn’t get the loan in their name as their CIBIL score is less.

However, they promised him a good amount as commission if he agreed to avail the gold loan with their jewellery. Lured by the offer, Purushottam created loan accounts at different banks by mortgaging Gold Jewellery provided by the accused persons.

Subsequently, he took loans to the tune of around Rs 24 lakhs in his name and some of his relatives’ names from the local branches of Bank of Maharashtra, Federal Bank, Axis Bank, and DCB Bank of different places in Berhampur, mortgaging the gold ornaments supplied to him by the accused persons.

In the course of time, the complainant informed the banks that he could not repay the loan amount, so the banks auctioned the gold ornaments.

One Kalidas Achary took the gold by depositing an adequate amount at the Bank following the auction. After thoroughly examining the gold, he came to know that the auctioned gold ornaments were duplicates/imitations.

Purushottam soon realised that he had been cheated by the accused and hatched a plan to catch them. He again called them to Berhampur, saying that he had arranged more persons who agreed to avail a loan by mortgaging their gold ornaments.

Accordingly, on Tuesday, the accused Srivastab and Kar reached Berhampur, where the police arrested the duo. The cops have also managed to nab the mastermind behind the fraud, Elahi from Balasore.

–IANS