5 arrested for duping PNB of Rs 1.5 crore

GUWAHATI: The Assam Police Bureau of Investigation (Economic Offences) (BIEO) arrested five persons of a real estate firm here on Tuesday on charges of duping the Punjab National Bank (PNB) of more than Rs 1.5 crore. The arrests came at a time when the national bank is already mired in deep controversy following the unraveling of the Nirav Modi scam.
The arrested persons, identified as Phanidhar Talukdar, Amarendra Kalita, Banwari Lal Pareekh, Saroj Sarma and Sailendra Roy, have been sent to three-day police custody. The BIEO registered a case following a complaint by an official of the PNB, Zoo Road branch alleging that Pareek and another person, in connivance with the builders of the construction firm, had defrauded the bank.

"PNB sanctioned two loans in 2016, amounting to Rs 83 lakh and Rs 75 lakh to Pareekh in January and June respectively, for the purchase of apartments. Though agreement of sale was made and also a tripartite agreement was executed between the real estate group, Pareek and the bank, no sale deed has been submitted so far. The accused were also avoiding mortgaging their property," sources said.

PNB is already in troubled waters after the Rs 12,600-crore scam surfaced where billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi allegedly acquired fraudulent letters of undertaking (LoU) from a branch in Mumbai to secure overseas credit from other Indian lenders. The probe revealed that Choksi and Modi got LoUs and Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs) amounting to Rs 12,636 crore, issued in favour of foreign branches of Indian banks. In case of default, the bank issuing the LoU has to pay the liability to the credit-giving bank along with interest.