FIR against seven  accused, including gold appraiser

Mysore/Mysuru: The Devaraja Police have registered an FIR against seven persons, including a bank’s gold appraiser, in connection with an alleged fake gold pawn fraud involving Rs. 56.78 lakh at Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd.

The incident came to light recently and the accused have been identified as Abdul Jameel of Mysuru, Sagar, Puttaraju and Ravi Kumar, Ravi Kumar’s wife Divya of Mandya, Nagarathna Reddy of Bengaluru and bank’s gold appraiser Ravindra Kumar, a resident of T. Narasipur.

According to the Police, the accused, in collusion with the bank’s gold appraiser, pledged fake gold weighing about 780 grams at the Tamilnad Mercantile Bank branch on Narayana Shastry Road and cheated the bank of Rs. 56.78 lakh.

Based on a complaint lodged by Bank Manager Suresh Kannan, Devaraja Police registered a case.

The Police said that the accused continued their transactions with the bank even after pledging fake gold, without arousing suspicion.

The fraud came to light when the bank conducted a re-evaluation of the pledged gold on Jan. 14 through Ramesh, an external evaluator.

The matter was subsequently brought to the notice of the bank’s management, following which a complaint was filed.

Devaraja Police have suspected the involvement of more persons in the case and are probing the role of the bank appraiser, including his communication with the other accused.

Devaraja Police Inspector Raghu, who is leading the investigation, had collected details from the Bank Manager and questioned the appraiser regarding the certification of fake gold as genuine before the FIR was filed. However, after the FIR was filed, all seven accused, including the bank appraiser, are said to be absconding.

Police said, efforts are on to trace and secure the accused.