Two held in bank fraud case

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 13

The Sadar police today arrested two persons in connection with a bank fraud case.

The accused identified as Sheetal Raj, a resident of Lamma village, and Dinesh Kumar, a resident of Karnal in Haryana, used to visit villages in and around Jalandhar and charge Rs 500 as a commission from women to get them bank loans on lower interest rates.

While informing about their modus operandi, SHO Kulwant Singh said the accused had duped women in many villages, including Dheena, Rama Mandi areas and Shaheed Babu Labh Singh Nagar.

“They were using a motorcycle with a fake number plate. They were using a SIM card that was bought on someone else identity card. They used to introduce themselves as employees of Margdarshak Bank. We are investigating the matter and hope that more cases with their involvement will surface,” said the SHO, adding that they used mobile numbers 7707805241 and 7508661233 to make fraudulent calls.

While Sheetal Raj has studied till senior secondary, Dinesh is a BTech degree holder.

Sheetal told The Tribune, “Earlier, I used to work for a micro finance company but later, I started my own business. A Rama Mandi-based group used to provide me the contact numbers of women of various villages. Though some of the commission amount was returned to the Rama Mandi-based group, it did not return to those from whom we took the money as commission.”

On July 26, a new report was published in The Tribune highlighting that women of Dheena and Jamsher villages were duped by a person posing as a bank agent. He came on a bike and introduced himself as an employee of Margdarshak Bank situated in the city.

The report also highlighted as to how the agent took Rs 340 as a commission from each of the woman and promised them to get a loan of Rs 80,000 each. The report stated that since the women are illiterate, they are hesitant to approach the police and file a complaint to nab the fraudster.

Following this, Police Commissioner Praveen Sinha took cognisance of the report and directed his staff to nab the accused within a week. Acting on a tip-off, the Sadar police today arrested the accused along with their bike.

The issue 

• On July 26, a new report was published in The Tribune highlighting that women of Dheena and Jamsher villages were duped by a person posing as a bank agent. He came on a bike and introduced himself as an employee of Margdarshak Bank situated in the city. 
• The report also highlighted as to how the agent took Rs 340 as a commission from each of the woman and promised them to get a loan of Rs 80,000 each. 

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