The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Man cheats banks of Rs 1.50 crore

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 07, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Man cheats banks of Rs 1.50 crore

Staff Reporter

He used just one property as collateral Police found that Subramani had taken loans ranging between Rs. 5 lakh and Rs. 12 lakh from 22 nationalised banks during 2000-04.

CHENNAI : A 43-year-old man identified as S. Subramani of Ambattur, Chennai was remanded to judicial custody here on Wednesday on charges of cheating 22 nationalised banks in Chennai city of Rs 1.50 crore by pledging just one immovable property as collateral.

Acting on a complaint from a nationalised bank, the City Crime Branch (CCB) police found that Subramani had taken loans ranging between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 12 lakh (average Rs 8 lakh) from 22 nationalised banks during 2000-04, pledging one immovable property, valued at Rs 40 lakh.

Police said that Subramani had purchased non-judicial stamp papers from different vendors on different dates in his name and by copying the contents from his original document, he had managed to create as many as 22 "new" documents. He had also forged the seal and stamp used in the sub-registrar's office as well as the signature of the sub-registrar in each document.

Whenever anyone sought an encumbrance certificate (EC), the computerised statement would reflect the name of Subramani. It was found during the probe that the two witnesses mentioned in each stamp paper was different and there was no repetition, an officer said.

Police said Subramani had confessed that he had started a prawn farm in Nagapattinam with the loans taken from the banks.

However, when he failed to repay the loans, the banks realised the fraud and filed a complaint.

A senior police officer told The Hindu that some of the banks had already launched internal inquiries about the role of their officers in the scam.

After registering a case of cheating, police remanded Subramani to custody.

Further investigation is on.

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