Bank cheated of Rs.33 crore, five held

Five people have been arrested for swindling a private bank of Rs.33 crore on the pretext of taking loans against spurious gold ornaments, police said Saturday.

Vijay Manchanda, 55, his 20-year-old son Dushyant Manchanda, Ravinder Kumar, 40, Satrughan Nayak, 32, and Ram Prakash, 31 - all residents of Delhi - were arrested Friday after a complaint was filed against them by Muraleedharan C.M., the deputy general manager of Dhanlaxmi Bank.

During investigation, it came to light that two groups - one led by a man named Somnath Bobal and the other by Vijay Manchanda - were involved in the swindling after they came in contact with the bank for the first time in 2010.

In 2013, Bobal along with his 14 associates availed Rs.21.60 crore in loan in 77 gold loan cases from the bank's branches in Karol Bagh and Connaught Place.

The gold pledged by them turned out to be fake, having negligible net gold content.

Similarly, Vijay Manchanda along with his 16 associates, adopting the same modus operandi and availed gold loans of Rs.11 crore.

"Both the groups in connivance with bank officials along with a bank appraiser, who evaluated the gold content, defrauded the bank to the tune of Rs.33 crore," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Economic Offences Wing) Mangesh Kashyap.

"The gold loan was availed at 12 percent rate of interest from the bank, and was further lent in the market at 20 to 24 percent, thus making a huge profit," the official said.

More arrests were likely soon, he said.