A man accused of defrauding the Punjab Gramin Bank, Phagwara, by taking a loan of ₹25 lakh using forged documents, landed in the vigilance net on Monday.
The accused has been identified as Satish Jha, a resident of Chak Hakeem village, Phagwara.
A total of 16 persons have been booked in this case, and six of them have already been arrested.
They are: Raj Kumar, valuer Satish Kumar Sharma, Subhash Kumar, Avtar Singh, Pankaj, and Rajesh Kumar. The vigilance is on the lookout for the rest of the accused.
A vigilance spokesperson said the accused, in connivance with the bank manager Harbhajan Singh Kapoor and valuer Satish Kumar Sharma, had got loans approved fraudulently.
Detailing about this, he said, “In Bhai Ghanaiya Enclave Colony, about 101 marla was sold as separate plots but about 74 marla was set aside for roads and streets. The accused managed to get loans to the tune of lakhs sanctioned against the said land, for construction of new houses. They then clicked pictures in front of houses in other colonies of the village and mortgaged the houses belonging to other people.”
The spokesperson further said Jha had bought a plot of five-and-a-half marlas on June 30, 2015, after mutation. He then procured a loan of ₹25 lakh from Punjab Gramin Bank but he hasn’t constructed any house on the land.
Investigations had revealed that the bank manager and valuer had misused their official position, which had caused a loss amounting to ₹3.4 crore to the bank.
A case has been registered against the accused under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (dishonestly using any document known to be forged), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 13 (1) (a) (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act at vigilance bureau police station in Jalandhar.