Fraud case: Former Chittoor cooperative town bank chairman held

TIRUPATI: The former chairman of

Chittoor

cooperative town bank who is also a local Telugu desam party leader landed in the police net after it was exposed that he had duped the bank by pledging guilt loans and obtained gold loans to the tune of Rs 87 lakh.


Speaking to reporters at Chittoor, DSP K

Eswar Reddy

said

P Shanmugam

(54) who served as the chairman of Chittoor cooperative town bank since 2014 till the end of the Telugu desam party regime, was found to have connived with the appraiser of the bank identified as GM Dharani Sagar, and managed to pledged guilt gold ornaments through 15 persons and availed 43 gold loans to the tune of Rs 87 lakh.

Though the chairman of the bank managed to lay the gold scam buried under the carpets till the TDP was in power, the scam was exposed by the new manager of the cooperative town bank who took after taking charge on 13th February, came to know of the scam and later lodged a complaint with the Chitoor police.

Acting on the complaint lodged by the bank manager PR Subramanyam, Chittoor I town police registered a case under sections 409, 417, 420, 506 IPC r/w 34 IPC and arrested the ex chairman P Shanmugam, while the appraiser Dharani Sagar managed to abscond.

During the course of the investigation it emerged that "the ex-chairman of the cooperative town bank who first connived with the gold appraiser and managed to avail gold loans to the tune of Rs 87 lakh between 2016-2017, threatened the erstwhile manager to remain mute on the issue. It was only after the new manager PR Subramanyam took charge on February 13 this year, that a re-appraisal of gold jewellery took place which is when it emerged that guilt jewellery were pawned through 43 accounts and gold loan was availed to fraudulent ways," DSP Eswar Reddy told reporters.

Police sources added that with rolling interest accruing to the existing 43 loans, the total loan availed by the ex chairman through fraudulent means was outstanding by Rs one crore and twenty thousand.

Chittoor police stated that the ex cooperative town bank chairman was an accused in as many as 14 cases registered against him at various police stations in Chittoor, Tirupati,

Bangarupalyam

police stations.

The accused who was arrested by the police was sent to remand on Tuesday and police said further investigation was going on.