Hyderabad: Eight individuals including the former branch manager of the State Bank of India (SBI) Sanathnagar, were arrested by the economic offences wing (EOS), Cyberabad police, over an alleged elaborate loan scam that led to a total loss of Rs 4.8 crore for SBI.
The accused have been identified as Karthik Rai, a former SBI branch manager in Hyderabad, Mettepilly Srikanth, Pole Vishal, Dagala Raju, Sudhansu Shekhar Parida, Mohammed Wajeed, U Sunil Kumar, Bhaskar Goud, and Amanchi Upender.
According to the police, Karthik Rai and his associates misused the SBI’s loan schemes and illegally sanctioned loan amounts by producing fraudulent documents as collaterals and diverting the state bank funds, with the branch manager approving the loans for a 5 percent commission from the loan amounts approved.
The scam was revealed after the SBI’s current Sanathnagar branch manager Ramachandra Raghavendra Prasad Paparapatti complained to the police over discrepancies in the Sanathnagar branch’s accounts in the period between June 2020 and June 2023.
The alleged crimes committed by the former branch manager Karthik Rai include authorising illegal loans based on fake collaterals, approving new loans and diverting the funds into third-party accounts without the concerned customers’ knowledge, diverting fixed deposits, claiming and diverting funds of deceased customers without the knowledge of legal heirs, manipulating customers to divert their investments at the branch and persuading them to provide higher returns through mutual investments.
The frauds were conducted by producing fake salary slips and identity cards to misrepresent loanees as salaried employees.
Hyderabad businessman duped of Rs 1.73 lakh in fake loan scam
According to the EOS investigation, loan frauds were allegedly committed by the scamming nexus in 67 SBI accounts in the Hyderabad branch.
The fraud was masterminded by Mohammed Wajeed and the branch manager misused his authority to approve loan requests made by the nexus without conducting the required verification process. They also committed other financial crimes including diverting other customers’ fixed deposit amounts at the branch.
The arrested accused were charged by the Cyberabad EOS under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servants, bankers), 467 (forgery of valuable securities), 468 (forgery with intent to cheat), 471 (use of a forged document as genuine), 477 A (falsification of accounts) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy).
