Surat: The Sutex Co-operative Bank was cheated of Rs four crore by four people who allegedly made fake quotations for machinery and equipment for their production plans to obtain govt subsidy.
The central govt sanctions subsidies through banks under the Special Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (SCLCSS). After transferring the money, the bank discovered the machinery quotations were fake.
Khatodara police filed a complaint of cheating, forgery, and conspiracy against 11 people and arrested one.
According to the complaint filed by bank manager Ketan Bhatt, four applicants, Ketan Chauhan, Nishant Lokhandwala, Jayashri Sheta, and Sanjay Vegad, applied for the loan under the scheme in Nov 2023. The bank sanctioned amounts of Rs 97.92 lakh, Rs 97.92 lakh, Rs 96.50 lakh, and Rs 99.69 lakh respectively after they provided quotations for the machinery and equipment they intended to purchase. After the sanction, the amounts were transferred to the bank accounts provided by the applicants. After receiving the money, these four holders were not paying the interest regularly, prompting the bank to initiate an investigation.
As all four provided quotations from Rudra Tradex company, the bank called the number given on the quotation. As the person did not provide a satisfactory answer, a bank employee went to Rudra Tradex's manufacturing plant in Pardi GIDC in Valsad in July 2024. However, there was no manufacturing plant at the address, and a bank notice for default was fixed on the unit with the names of Kalpesh Prajapati and Usha Shettigar as defaulters.
In further investigation, the bank found that the accused Ramila Karkar, Pravin Anghan, and John Parida opened accounts solely to receive the loan amounts. They quoted their bank accounts in the fake quotation of Rudra Tradex.
Accused Kalpesh Prajapati and Jenish Rana signed as witnesses in the loan documents, while another accused, Pravin Sheta, signed as guarantor.
Following this, the bank booked all 11 accused and arrested Prajapati, while the process for arresting 10 more accused is underway.