CHENNAI: The Economic Offences Branch (EOB) of CBI, Chennai, has registered a case against six individuals for allegedly defrauding State Bank of India (SBI) by securing a home loan using forged documents.
In an FIR registered earlier this month, CBI named the accused as S Vakisan and Deivanai of Puducherry, D Santosh of Madipakkam, Vummidi Kritish of Tiruporur on ECR, and valuers M Vijaykumar of Puducherry and S Senthil of Chennai, along with unknown public servants. The case follows a directive from the Madras High Court after SBI’s Home Loan Centre sought a probe.
According to the bank’s complaint, Vakisan and Deivanai applied for a Rs 5 crore home loan in 2020 to purchase a residential villa on ECR built by Santosh Builders, owned by Santosh. The valuers, Vijaykumar and Senthil, assessed the property at Rs 6 crore, leading to loan disbursal to the builder and landowner Kritish.
The borrowers paid EMIs until April 2021 before applying for loan restructuring due to Covid-19, extending repayment until July 2023. However, an internal audit found that the loan was sanctioned for construction and purchase, while the villa had been built in 2016.
The approval plan dated to 2011, and the plot was regularised in 2019. SBI declared the account fraudulent and classified it as a non-performing asset (NPA) with an outstanding balance of Rs 5.56 crore. A revaluation found the property’s actual worth to be only Rs 4 crore.
CBI alleged that the accused availed of the loan using fake documents, forged approvals, and exaggerated valuation reports. A case under IPC sections for cheating, forgery, and the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered.