He had obtained loans by pledging fake gold in the names of Bank’s customers

Periyapatna:  A gold examiner of a bank at Kittur in Periyapatna taluk, has allegedly cheated the bank to the tune of over Rs.31 lakh, by pledging fake gold jewellery in the names of Bank’s customers and the customers who came to know about this after they received notices from the Bank staged a protest in front of the Bank yesterday.

It is learnt that Rajesh, the gold examiner of the Bank, had pledged fake gold jewellery in the name of about 25 Bank customers since about two years and had obtained loans to the tune of over Rs.31 lakh. As he had not paid the loan instalments for many months, the Bank had issued notices to the Bank customers in whose names Rajesh had taken the loans. When the customers approached the Bank for clarifications, the fraud had come to light.

The customers, who staged protest yesterday in front of the Bank, demanded a thorough probe into the alleged fraud besides urging for stringent punishment to the accused and set right the problem.

Meanwhile, Bank customers Dinesh and Aleem, said that they themselves took Rajesh to the Regional Office in Mysuru and handed him over to the Bank authorities and alleged that the Bank authorities instead of taking action against Rajesh, they left him without taking any action.

They also alleged that the Kittur Bank Manager Bharat told them that the Bank would give them loans and complaints would be registered against them too and has asked us to take the loans and return the loan through instalments.

Meanwhile, ZP Member K.S. Manjunath, who visited the Bank, has urged the authorities to conduct a probe into the alleged fraud case and provide justice to the Bank customers who have been cheated.

Cheated Bank customers Mahadev, Girish, Prakash, Appaji, Harish, Pradeep, Amla Pasha, Bhagyamma and others were present.

No complaint has been registered so far with the Police.