Police files chargesheet against 7 accused in Rs 5 crore bank loan scam

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The scam was unearthed in 2023, and the two main conspirators -- former branch manager of the J&K Bank in Rajouri, Jatinder Singh, and dismissed employee of the Integrated Watershed Management Programme in Poonch, Saleem Yousuf Bhatti -- are in jail, he said.

The fresh chargesheet against the accused, including Singh and Bhatti, was filed by the special investigation team of the Crime Branch in the court of special judge for Anti-Corruption in Rajouri, Senior Superintendent of Police, Crime, Jammu, Benam Tosh said.

Others named in the chargesheet include dismissed employee Mohd Shafiq and impersonators Waqar Ahmad, Zaheer Ahmad, Zafar Iqbal and Mohd Shakeel -- all residents of Poonch.

Earlier, the Crime Branch had filed preliminary chargesheet in the case against four accused -- Mohd Altaf, his wife Ruksana Tabassum , Zahida Parveen and Bhatti.

The case was registered on the written complaint of chief manager of the zonal office of the J&K Bank in Jammu, Mohd Shakeel who alleged that Bhatti and others had activated the dormant accounts of Watershed Committee's Lassana branch in Poonch, the official said.

He said the accused got the nomenclature of the accounts changed, issued fake salary certificates, confirmation letters to different non-existent employees and managed together personal loans, cash credit loans and car loans by posing themselves as government employees.

The accused also managed to open fraudulent government accounts at two branches of the bank, the official said.

They initially deposited money through different branches into the accounts of the Watershed Committee and the fake accounts opened by them. They also issued fake authority letters instructing the branches to disburse or credit the salary in the individual accounts of the accused.

Thus, the accused managed to fraudulently obtain loans amounting to about Rs 5 crore from different branches of the J&K Bank, the official said.