Ahmedabad: A cooperative bank scam that came to light in 2007, saw its first arrest nine months later, on Wednesday.
The needle of suspicion is now pointing towards bank officials and also towards the police for soft-pedalling the case. The scam is related to the Ahmedabad District Cooperative (ADC) Bank, Dholera branch.
Between 2003 and 2006, the bank granted agriculture loans worth a total of Rs 1.18 crore to 16 farmers.
This scam came to light when a police complaint was registered at Dholka police station by 16 farmers in July 2007. Farmers alleged that fraudsters had misused their names and bank account details to claim the loans on the basis of false pretence and fake documents.
Police, however, sat on the complaint without doing anything. They too had to be goaded into action. When all the 16 farmers of Bhangad in Dholka threatened to move the HC, the cops made the first arrest.
The Dholka police on Wednesday arrested one of the accused, Chandu Kanani, on Wednesday. Kanani, chairman of a Banwad Seva Cooperative Society, was produced before a Dhandhuka court on Wednesday and taken for a 10-day remand.
JD Jhala, DySP, Dholka, said: “This is the first arrest. During remand we hope to get names of other accused and more arrests will follow.”
Police now believe that between 2003 and 2006 the scam was masterminded by some corrupt bank officers and some people posing as bonafide famers. The loans were never repaid.
In 2007, when the bank’s auditor sent letters to the 16 farmers in 2007. The letter said that the loans that the farmers have taken by mortgaging their farm lands had not been repaid. Ironically, all the 16 farmers were poor and did not own any land. When they met the bank officers to complain, they were not taken seriously.
When even after a lot of chaos the bank authoities did not agree to take note of their complaint, the farmers loged a police complaint that both they and the bank have been cheated.
Soon after the complaint was lodged, somebody - bank officials have kept the names secret - repaid the loan!
Police officials believe that this must be one of the many such scams where loans were taken and then repaid too. Modus Operandi Sanction of agricultural loan is governed by welllaid-out norms. These norms specify price for each hectare of plot on which the loan is sanctioned. For Bhangad, Dholka, maximum amount of loan that can be given for a one-hectare plot is Rs 10,000. But the scamsters with bank officials fixed the rate at Rs 25,000 per hectare. The loan applicants also claimed that they cultivated BT Cotton on this land. When police checked this with Talati of Bhangad, he said that cotton is not cultivated in this zone because it’s a water-scarce zone. And, cotton requires lot of water.
Prashant Dayal TNN
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment