Three Arrested in Ganjam for Cheating Banks of ₹24 Lakh Using Fake Gold

Berhampur: The Baidyanathpur police in Ganjam district have arrested three persons for allegedly defrauding six banks of around ₹24 lakh by pledging fake gold ornaments. The arrests were made on Thursday.

The accused have been identified as Abhinav Srivastava (26) of Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, Biswajit Kar of Sahadevkhunta in Balasore district, and Sheikh Manjur Ilai (30) of Aktapur. Police recovered four fake gold bangles (67 grams), two fake gold earrings (12 grams), and 61.7 grams of melted silver from their possession.

According to police, the trio befriended P. Purushottam, a resident of Badkhandi in Hinjilikatu, while working at a shrimp processing factory in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh. About 18 months ago, they reconnected with him in Berhampur and proposed setting up a shrimp processing unit in Andhra Pradesh. They convinced Purushottam to help raise funds by pledging gold ornaments in banks.

Purushottam opened bank accounts in the names of his relatives and, using fake gold supplied by the accused, secured loans from multiple branches: ₹3.5 lakh from the Bank of Maharashtra, Berhampur, ₹3.5 lakh from Federal Bank, Tatabenz Chhak, and ₹3.35 lakh from Axis Bank, Hinjilikatu—raising over ₹10 lakh initially, which he handed to the accused.

Later, the trio returned with more fake gold, and Purushottam secured an additional ₹10 lakh from Axis Bank, Mandiapalli, Bank of Maharashtra, Khodasing, and DCB Bank, Hinjilikatu. They rewarded him with two bangles, which turned out to be silver-plated when he tried to exchange them at a jewelry shop. Realizing the fraud, Purushottam lodged a complaint with the police.

Police laid a trap, asking Purushottam to call the accused back to Berhampur, where they were arrested.

The case has raised concerns about gold verification procedures at banks, as fake ornaments were accepted across six different branches. Notably, at one Axis Bank branch, the loan tenure had expired and the pledged ornaments had already been auctioned before the fraud was detected.