KCC Bank scam: Police begin probe into missing loan files

A team of the Una district police has initiated a detailed investigation into a case registered against eight serving and former officials of the Kangra Central Cooperative Bank (KCC Bank) over the alleged disappearance of crucial loan valuation and related records connected to a Rs 20-crore hotel financing scam.

The FIR was registered by the Una police on December 27, 2025, under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. The offences invoked include criminal breach of trust by a public servant or banker, cheating, disappearance of evidence, criminal conspiracy and abetment. The relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, including Sections 13(1)(a) and 13(2), were also added in the first information report.

On Friday, an Una police team visited the headquarters of the KCC Bank at Dharamsala to record the statements of bank officials and to seek details of the records currently available with the bank authorities.

The investigation was focused on tracing the missing files and fixing responsibility for the alleged lapses.

As per the FIR, several important documents, including property valuation reports, internal notings and other related papers, were missing from the loan recovery files pertaining to a hotel project financed by the bank.

“These records were essential for assessing the value of the mortgaged properties. The absence of these documents allegedly led to serious procedural lapses and caused financial losses to the bank”, said Kuldeep Chand Bhardwaj who retired as a AGM from the bank a couple of weeks back.

The missing documents came to light during scrutiny of the recovery process, raising serious questions about record management and internal controls within the bank.

Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, in January 2025, had also registered a separate case against the same hotelier and certain officials of the KCC Bank for allegedly sanctioning Rs 20-crore loan in violation of the guidelines laid down by NABARD, the supervising and monitoring agency of the bank.

It was only after the registration of the vigilance case, crucial files and documents related to the sanctioning, valuation and recovery of the loan reportedly went missing from the bank. It was in this backdrop that the Una police registered the present FIR to probe the disappearance of records and the role of bank officials in the scam.