Five people have been booked for allegedly duping the State Bank of India (SBI) by borrowing a home loan of Rs1.5 crore on fake documents and fraudulently distributing the whopping amount among themselves. The accused were identified as Vasant Patankar, Manjit Kaur, Piyush Shah, Raghvendra Pujari and Urvil Shah.
Details of case
A Bhiwandi-based businessman, Patankar took the loan, saying that he planned to buy a flat owned by Kaur. Piyush, who worked for the developer, helped in getting a no objection certificate (NOC), which was submitted to the bank.
As per the case registered at the MHB police station, Patankar applied for a loan at the SBI's Borivali West branch to buy Kaur's flat in Andheri's Horizon Heights building. After following the due procedure and a site visit, the bank issued a cheque in Kaur's name on February 28. Gradually, Patankar paid EMIs totalling up to Rs1,26,500, after which he stopped repaying the debt.
Bank declares loan as a non-performing asset
Consequently, the bank declared the loan as a non-performing asset and its officials visited Patankar's office in Bhiwandi. However, the office was found to be closed and it came to the fore that the businessman has not paid rent for several months.
The officials then visited Patankar's other residence and learned that he had sold it. Finally, they went to Horizon Heights and met Kaur. Upon inquiry, the woman spilled the beans on the conspiracy and admitted that all of them colluded to use the debt for purposes other than intended. Kaur revealed that she became a part of the plan as she was in need of Rs10 lakh and in reality, her flat was not sold to Patankar.
Case filed for cheating & forgery
When the bank officials visited the developer and queried about the NOC's issuance, they learned that Piyush was involved in the 'deal'. The jigsaw finally fell into place when the society registrar denied identifying Kaur as the flat owner. The accused forged documents and instead presented another woman in place of Kaur at the time of registration.
On December 15, a case was filed against all of them under the Indian Penal Code sections pertaining to cheating and forgery.
