A 28-year-old private banker who had ambitions of joining the civil services allegedly used fake government seals and forged documents to help loan applicants in return for a fee, which he squirrelled away to secure a seat in a coaching class.
The accused Girish H.N. hails from Kunigal, and lived near BU. According to the police, he was operating this racket for nearly four years. The racket came to light when a revenue officer from R.R. Nagar verified a set of documents from the bank. He found that one of the documents was forged and alerted the Annapoorneshwari Nagar police, who zeroed in on Girish.
When they raided his house, they recovered as many as 290 fake rubber stamps with seals from various departments of the State government and a machine to make rubber stamps worth Rs 7.7 lakh.
“Girish claimed that he wants to be an IAS officer and was involved in the racket only to raise money to pay for a seat in a coaching class,” said Ravi D. Chennannavar, DCP west.
According to the police, Girish is a commerce graduate from Tumakuru. He came to Bengaluru in 2011. He sat for several competitive exams but was unable to get a government job. He joined a private bank as a document collection executive in the loans section. In 2015, he met a customer who desperately wanted a tax receipt, which would help him apply for a loan.
Girish reportedly assured the man that he could help him, and contacted his friend Irfan Khan who introduced him to a man named Bhaskar from Laggere who was known in some circles to make fake documents. He got a fake tax receipt from Bhaskar and helped the applicant get the loan. The man was so grateful that he gave him a huge sum of money for his help.
“That was when Girish realised that he could do this on the side. He started making fake documents for people who approached the bank for a loan,” said the police.
A short while later, Bhaskar was arrested by the Peenya police in a forgery case.
With no one to provide stamps, Girish bought a second-hand stamp making machine from a shop in Chamarajpet. Over the years, he amassed a collection of seals, including those of the BBMP, the revenue and other government departments.
“He made fake documents, forged the signature of the official concerned, stamped them and submit the documents to the bank at the behest of loan applicants,” the officer said.
Girish has been charged with cheating, forgery and impersonation, and remanded to judicial custody.
The police have also recovered a diary from Girish in which he had made a list of the beneficiaries.