Co-op bank cheats 2,400 depositors of Rs 93 crore, five held

BENGALURU: In yet another case of misappropriation of funds by a cooperative institution, around 2,400 depositors have been allegedly cheated to the tune of Rs 93 crore. Five persons have been arrested in connection with the scam allegedly committed by Kuruhinasetty Souharda Credit Co-operative Ltd in Chamrajpet.

The police said several complaints were lodged by the depositors who accused the board members and staff of the cooperative institute of not returning their deposits. More than 20 members were named as accused in these cases and a detailed probe was carried out. It came to light that the firm had released a huge amount of loans to individuals and financial institutions without following due procedures since 2011.

“Loans were sanctioned without proper verification of documents. Huge amount of mortgage loans were sanctioned against undervalued properties, while several mortgage loans were also sanctioned on the same properties. Besides, it was also found that several mortgaged properties were fraudulently sold to the family members of the board members. Based on the findings of the investigation, five persons have been arrested while efforts are on to nab the other absconding accused,” the police said.

The arrested are B L Srinivas (64), a resident of Brigade Gateway Apartment who was the president of the institute for 12 years, Eshwarappa B (71), a resident of Shantinagar, who was the vice-president for 10 years, Dayananda Hegde (50), a resident of Mariyannanapalya and Chandrashekhar P (55) of V Nagenahalli in R T Nagar, who had defaulted on crores of rupees borrowed from the institution in the form of loans, and B T Mohan (75), a resident of BTM Layout and the chairman of Surabhi Chits Ltd.

Mohan, Chairman of Surabhi Chits, was a special invitee of the board and crores of rupees were given as loans to defaulters through him, the police added. The probe has so far established that the financial institution has around 2,400 depositors and has given Rs 93 crore as loans including Rs 15 crore to the scam-hit Sri Guru Raghavendra Sahakara Bank Niyamitha.

“As the case involves a multi-crore scam, it will be handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) soon,” a senior police officer said. The police have registered cases under the provisions of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act, the Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments Act and various sections of the IPC against the accused and are further investigating.