Home loan fraud: Bengaluru man cheats 230 people of crores of rupees

BENGALURU: Police are on the lookout for a man who allegedly cheated around 230 people of several crores of rupees by promising them home loans at a lower interest rate.
The suspect, Madhu, had set up an office on Kadubeesanahalli Main Road near Marathahalli two months ago and employed 40 staffers to identify potential victims.
Jeevan Bima Nagar police on Friday received a complaint from a 61-year-old retired BEML employee, AM Gurumallayya, who alleged he lost Rs 11.8 lakh to Madhu, who claimed to be representative of a private bank and was tasked with helping eligible individuals get home loans.
Preliminary probe revealed Madhu had deposited 10 cheques of Gurumallayya in his personal bank accounts and siphoned off Rs 11.8 lakh. Soon, it was learnt that he had 12 accounts in his name in various banks and had deposited hundreds of cheques on July 4 and walked away with crores of rupees.
Soon, complaints against Madhu began to pour in at Banaswadi, Rajagopalanagar, Electronics City, Jeevan Bima Nagar, Marathahalli and other police stations. Jeevan Bima Nagar police said they have got the 12 bank accounts frozen, adding the exact sum of money Madhu has decamped with is yet to be ascertained. Around 230 people were conned, one of Madhu’s staffers told police.
“Investigation revealed Madhu had opened the Kadubeesanahalli office with his associates Akash and Varadaraj two months ago. They hired 28 women telecallers to contact public over phone to know whether they wanted home loans. Madhu would prepare a list of people who showed interest and assign 10 executive officers to liaise with them. The executive officers would call people to inform them the loan had been sanctioned and meet them on the pretext of getting signatures for documents. At the same time, they used to collect six to 10 cheques from the victims as security,” a police officer explained.
Madhu deposited the cheques in his bank accounts on July 4 and most of them were cleared by the respective banks the same day. “We have picked up a few executives from Madhu’s office. They seem to be innocent and Madhu seems to have misused them. Their exact role will be clearer during the course of investigation,” a police officer said.