MUMBAI: A relationship manager with a private bank's mutual fund department and his six accomplices have been arrested for allegedly trying to secure a loan against a fake Rs 50-crore fixed deposit receipt.
The fraud came to light on Monday when the alleged mastermind, Manish Parmar (41), and four others -Agrel Nadar (36), Sukhat Panda (30), Vijay Janke (40) and Gautam Sharma (35), all from Mira Road and Bhayander-visited ICICI Bank's Andheri (E) branch to get an overdraft facility against the FD. But when Parmar, who was posing as the original account-holder-Upendranath Nimgada from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh-failed to provide details, the bank officials suspected something was amiss. The bank's vigilance department found that the FD receipt was a fake and the original account-holder had already encashed it on its maturity date.
The bank alerted the Andheri police, who arrested the five fraudsters. "Parmar led us to Pranav Gupta alias Dharmendra Kumar (29), who is employed with the bank's Bhayander branch; and Mohammed Shaikh, who had helped make the fake FD receipt. They were arrested on Tuesday," said senior inspector Vijay Belge. Zonal DCP Ankil Goyal said: "Gupta had provided the bank's watermark paper for the FD receipt."
On learning that there have been four similar attempts in the past, the police are verifying if the same gang was involved. A team, including inspector Shivaji Pawade and sub-inspector Anandrao Ghadge-are investigating if more bank staffers are involved in the crime. The seven accused have been booked under the relevant IPC sections for cheating, forgery and impersonation.