Former co-op bank chief held for Rs 87L fraud

Tirupati: A former chairman of Chittoor cooperative town bank was arrested by the police on Tuesday on charges of duping the bank by pledging guilt loans and taking gold loans amounting to Rs 87 lakh.
Chittoor DSP K Eswar Reddy said P Shanmugam (54), who is also a local TDP leader and served as chairman of the cooperative bank for five years, 2014 to 2019, connived with the appraiser of the bank and pledged guilt gold ornaments through 15 persons and availed 43 gold loans amounting to Rs 84 lakh.The accused appraiser has been identified as GM Dharani Sagar.
Shanmugam managed keep fraudulent gold loans buried under the carpet till the TDP was in power. The scam was exposed by the new manager of the cooperative bank, PR Subramanyam, who took charge on February 13, and lodged a complaint with Chitoor police after coming to know of the fraud. Acting on the complaint, Chittoor I town police registered a case under various sections of the IPC and arrested him. Police are looking for the appraiser, who is absconding.
“Shanmugam connived with the appraiser and managed to avail gold loans to the tune of Rs 87 lakh between 2016 and 2017. He also threatened the then bank manager to keep quiet on the issue,” DSP Eswar Reddy said.
With rolling interest accruing to the existing 43 gold loans, the total outstanding is now Rs 1,00,20,000 (one crore twenty thousand rupees). Police further said that as many as 14 cases are registered against Shanmugam in various police stations in Chittoor, Tirupati and Bangarupalyam. He has remanded in custody. Further investigation is on.