Friend dies after alleged Rs 15 lakh loan fraud, 2 booked

Pilibhit: A case has against two men accused of defrauding their friend of Rs 15 lakh after the chief judicial magistrate’s court in Pilibhit directed action on a complaint by the deceased man’s wife. Pradeep Kumar Saxena, 52, allegedly died from severe mental shock on Aug 27 last year after learning about the fraud.Pradeep’s wife, Sandhya Saxena, 48, approached the court after local police allegedly failed to act on multiple written complaints. In her complaint, she alleged that one of the accused, Sanjeev Kumar Verma, exploited his close friendship with her husband, took possession of his bank credit card in good faith, and used his salary account to secure loans worth Rs 15 lakh in his name.Sandhya told officers when her husband demanded repayment, the accused refused and threatened him with dire consequences if he raised the issue again. Police said Verma, allegedly in collusion with bank staff, got the entire loan amount transferred to his own account.Saxena, an employee at State Ayurvedic College in Pilibhit, learnt about the alleged fraud only after loan instalments began getting deducted from his monthly salary. Pilibhit Kotwali SHO Satyendra Kumar said, “An FIR was lodged on Wednesday evening against Sanjeev Kumar Verma and his alleged accomplice, Rakesh Saxena, both residents of Pilibhit city, under BNS sections 316(2) (criminal breach of trust), 106 (causing death by negligence), and 351(3) (criminal intimidation).”