GUWAHATI, March 6 - The Bureau of Investigation (Economic Offences) � BIEO � today arrested five persons in a bank fraud case in which loans to the tune of over Rs 2.5 crore were secured using forged documents.
The accused have been identified as Banwarilal Pareekh, Phanidhar Talukdar, Amarendra Kalita, Saroj Sarma and Sailen Roy.
BIEO SP Shyamal Prasad Saikia said the loans were taken in the name of Pareekh.
However, Pareekh and the other three accused are employees of Phanidhar Talukdar, the proprietor of Skyscrappers Real Estate Pvt Ltd.
�Three loans were taken in January-June, 2016. Two of them were against flats � one of Rs 75 lakh and another of Rs 83 lakh. The third loan was a cash credit loan of Rs 1 crore which was taken against a fake godown. The housing flats against which the loans were taken were already registered in the name of different owners,� the SP said.
The AGM of the Zoo Road branch of Punjab National Bank had filed a case in January following which the BIEO began its investigations.
During interrogation, Talukdar claimed that his signature was forged by Pareekh, but investigators have not given the former a clean chit.
The accused have been booked under sections 120 (b)/420/468 and 406 of IPC.
The BIEO has also not ruled out involvement of bank employees in the fraud.
�We have to check how the loans were given without verifying the documents. We are looking into all aspects,� a BIEO official said.
All the arrested were produced before a court today. Talukdar was sent to judicial custody on health grounds, while the other four accused were taken into three-day police custody.
