The Hindu : New Delhi News : Two held for cheating banks

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Friday, Mar 16, 2007
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New Delhi

Two held for cheating banks

Staff Reporter

Credit and debit cards, chequebooks, PAN cards, driving licences, cars seized

NEW DELHI: A school dropout and his accomplice have been arrested by the Delhi police for allegedly cheating several multi-national banks and financial institutions of crores of rupees by floating fictitious companies and availing themselves of loans in the name of non-existing employees.

A total of 133 credit and debit cards, 384 chequebooks, 138 PAN cards, 43 fake driving licences, 17 mobile phones, 19 SIM cards and 1,134 photographs of different people have been seized, the police said.

Unique style

Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Anand Mohan said prime accused Sarabjeet Singh had a unique modus operandi wherein he used to buy defunct companies, change their names and directors and get them registered. "He would employ a few people, but open a large number of salary accounts using fake identities and directly operate these accounts. He would then seek several financial facilities such as overdraft, credit cards, personal loans and vehicle loans against these fake accounts," Mr. Mohan added. "For the first few months he duly paid the loan and interest instalments and then defaulted. When the bank officials contacted the company seeking the whereabouts of the employees, they were told that the said employees had left the job," said Mr. Mohan.

Sarabjeet would set up an impressive office infrastructure in upmarket areas and take rented accommodation in plush localities to create residential addresses for his fictitious employees. "He had also floated websites in the name of his companies and left no reasons for the banks to suspect him," added Mr. Mohan. He and his accomplices have allegedly cheated Citibank of Rs. 2 crs, HSBC of Rs. 2.7 crs, ICICI of Rs. 1.35 crs and others of around Rs. 2 crs. "Sarabjeet Singh is fond of cars and got several vehicles financed from different banks. Four cars have been seized at his instance."

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