MADIKERI: A total of 10 accused have been arrested by Kodagu police in a fake gold jewellery loan scam reported across the banks in Kodagu. The police are yet to arrest two more accused in the case. Investigations are ongoing and the accused have been booked under BNS 111 under the organized crime section.
The arrested are from Napoklu, Bhagamandala and Kerala state. The accused were involved in creating fake gold bangles that resembled gold jewellery and pledged the jewellery in banks to avail loan.
The incident came to light after fake jewels were pledged by Moosa (37), a resident of Emmemadu village in the district, at the DCC Bank in Madikeri.
Investigations from this case revealed that similar pledges were made across DCC banks in other branches including at Bhagamandala and Virajpet even as a few cases were also reported at Cooperative Banks.
“The accused pledged fake gold jewellery across DCC Banks as the loan amount for one gram of gold is higher compared to other banks. Further, the accused targeted cooperative banks for the same reason,” confirmed SP K Ramajan, addressing a press conference in Madikeri.
Further, the police tracked down the mastermind in the case and the accused has been identified as Mohammed Kunhi (48), a resident of Ernakulam in Kerala state.
“The accused were involved in an organized crime. The gang mobilized things after the mastermind was in contact with a veteran goldsmith, accused Pradeep (60) from Ernakulam who readied the fake jewels. The accused used copper to create the fake gold jewels and the same were plated with 1.5 g gold to ensure the jewels resembled gold closely,” he explained.
A special investigation team was formed to track the accused and a total of 12 accused including Mohammed Kunhi, Pradeep, Mohammed Rizwan (35), Rizwan PH (39), Abdul Naseer (50), Navas KP (47), Nishad KA (43), Moosa (37), Mohammed Aneef (42), Katij (32), Rafeeq (38) and Farhan (33) have been identified by the police.
223 grams of gold-plated bangles and Rs 2 lakh cash have been seized. The accused have several pending cases and were involved in similar crimes across the state. The accused had pledged 652 grams of fake jewels and have cheated the banks in the district of Rs 34.95 lakh.