City firm probed for Rs 1,083 cr bank fraud

The raids came following a complaint by IDBI Bank on behalf of other consortium member banks like Allahabad Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Syndicate Bank, State Bank of India, Dena Bank (now Bank of Baroda), Bank of Maharashtra, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Oriental Bank of Commerce, UCO Bank and Canara Bank for cheating and causing an approximate loss of Rs 1,083.14 crore. Meanwhile, CBI Madurai has started a probe into a Rs 15.54 crore fraud committed by a realtor in Tiruchy and 28 others, who had allegedly defrauded the Punjab National Bank after borrowing money from its branches.

CBI has registered a case against K Karpagam of Sunshine Estate, Aranmanaipudur, Theni. According to the complaint, between June 2015 to April 2017, Karpagam entered into a conspiracy with borrowers and unknown public servants. She applied for housing loans for purchase of property developed by Sunshine Estate, Tiruchy, and obtained loans against non-existing properties, double documented properties, sanctioned by unknown public servants who abused their official position. The group cheated PNB branches at Tiruchy and Theni, allegedly causing loss to the tune of Rs 15.54 crore to the bank.

The enquiry by the bank revealed that some properties were not identifiable while in some other cases, plots were found to be sold to more than one person to avail of double financing.

Karpagam allegedly renumbered and allotted plots alphabetically instead of numerically based on plot numbers as per layout plan. For some beneficiaries, plot numbers were mentioned as per real plan, while for others it was alphabetically numbered which led to double financing.

All the suspects had together borrowed crores of rupees and defaulted the payment, CBI FIR noted.

Meanwhile, the CBI conducted searches at 169 locations in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Chandigarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Dadra and Nagar Haveli in connection with various bank fraud cases to the tune of over Rs 7,000 crore. More than 170 teams were involved in the operation in connection with 35 cases related to bank frauds.