The Maharashtra Police on Thursday arrested a jeweller near Pune for allegedly defrauding at least 16 customers to the tune of ₹2.5 crore through a gold loan scheme by supplying fake gold to them.
The accused, identified as Vilas Udawant, a resident of Pandit Nagar area in Beed district, duped over a dozen customers by selling fake gold on the basis of which they sought loan from a bank, news agency PTI reported quoting police officials.
After defrauding the people, Udawant had fled to Dehugaon area located near Pune city, where he opened a jewellery shop.
Days after realizing that Udawant was on the run, police was informed about his presence in Pune. Acting on the tip-off, a team from Beed police conducted a search and held him from his recently opened jewellery shop in Dehugaon area near Pune before seizing 18 kilograms of silver from the premises. He was arrested from Dehugaon.
Fake gold loan
Udawant had made a fool-proof plan to get rich. Carrying out the fraud from his shop in Beed, he made fake gold ornaments for customers seeking bank loans and forwarded their loan applications to a a local branch of a prominent public sector bank.
Before he sold all his properties in Beed and fled to Pune, the accused allegedly passed at least 16 gold loans using this procedure.
Police estimated Udawant to have accumulated around ₹2.5 crore in two months using this fraudulent method.
Similar case reported in Bengaluru
The incident comes days after two men involved in cheating people with a “zero per cent interest gold loan” fraud scheme were arrested by central crime branch of Bengaluru city police.
After the arrest, that was made nearly two weeks ago, gold and silver articles worth ₹1.8 crore were also seized from the shop, from where the accused operated, news agency PTI reported.
According to police, the main accused had opened a jewellery shop in Vidyaranapura, advertising “zero per cent interest gold loans” to attract the public. Believing the false advertisement, many customers pledged their gold ornaments and took loans.
They were given only 50-60 per cent of the actual value of the pledged gold and were told not to redeem their jewels for at least 11 months.
During this period, the accused illegally sold the pledged gold to another jeweller, earning a profit of 40-50 per cent.
Under this fraudulent scheme, a total of around four kg of gold was misappropriated. After 11 months, the accused closed the shop and absconded, confirming the fraud, a senior police officer said.