Loan given on property that never existed, 7 booked in Ahmedabad

AHMEDABAD: The detection of crime branch on Saturday registered a case against seven persons, including a bank valuation officer, who had taken a loan of Rs 3.04 crore from the Bank of Baroda after showing a property which never existed.
Police booked Rupal Barot and Nilesh Barot, the two who had taken loan; Girish Bhesaniya; the person who sold the flat which never existed; Bhupendra Patel, the guarantor; Kuldipraj Saxena, the branch manager; Induprasad Patel, a property valuer; and Krishnakant Pandit, the machine valuer, for criminal breach of trust, cheating and forgery.
The complaint was lodged by Yagneshnarayan Pathak, 45, who was working with the zonal stressed assets recovery branch of the Bank of Baroda.
Rupal and Nilesh had taken a loan of Rs 95 lakh in 2016 for purchasing machinery, and Rs 1 crore for increasing their business. The duo had presented a partnership deed of Orchid Boutique proposing to manufacture leggings. The duo had given the address of house number 35, Mangal Flats in Khanpur, Ahmedabad. According to them, the house was purchased from Bhesaniya and they also produced a registered sale deed. The duo gave a quotation from Tauschen International for purchase of machinery.
According to the complaint, Bhupendra Patel was aware that such a property in Mangal Flats never existed and despite being aware of the fact, he became a guarantor. Also, Induprasad who was given the task of evaluating the property, had evaluated the same despite the fact that the property was not there.
The bank manager transferred Rs 95 lakh in the account of Tauschen International and Rs 1 crore was transferred to the account of Orchid Boutique. The amount was transferred to Tauschen after the Pandit gave the valuation report of the machinery.
Later, when the bank did not receive the instalment, it issued notice to Orchid Boutique but failed to get any response. The bank then declared the loan as a non-performing asset. Later, the officials of the bank visited the residential scheme where the flat was mortgaged, but found out that no such flat existed. There were only 28 flats.