Serial home loan fraudster ran out of luck, caught by the police

Powai police had a break through the housing loan fraud by arresting one Pankaj Jani on the complaints of a leading bank. Last week one of the leading banks filed a complaint with the police that the documents submitted by some applicants were forged.

The police told that Jani, who is a part of a wider racket, had allegedly taken housing loans of Rs 40 lakh and Rs 49 lakh loan from ICICI Bank in April this year. However Jani, luck could not favor him this time when he attempted to get loans of Rs 50 lakh and Rs 41 lakh from HDFC Bank and thus landed him in the police net.

The police on investigation found that Jani had applied for housing loan using different names, but the photographs he submitted were of his own. Whereas the applications submitted were in the name of Birendra Sadhu Shetty and Santosh Mhatre.

Intriguingly, the police found a photograph of another person having the similar name to the one of the names mentioned on the application, Birendra Sadhu Shetty. Moreover the documents submitted were also similar to those Jani had provided.

There were seven housing loan applications involved in the racket -five with ICICI Bank in Ghatkopar and two with HDFC Bank in Andheri. Jani started filing the applications six months ago. The police apprehended three applications of Rs 54 lakh, Rs 60 lakh and Rs 24 lakh, respectively, which were pending with ICICI Bank. They also confirmed that Jani had used fake names such as Birendra Sadhu Shetty and Santosh Mhatre in the applications. Another application was made in the name of one Anand Chandshieve.

Explaining the technique, senior inspector Rajdoot Rupwate said, "The money was being used to pay EMIs for the two loans that had already been sanctioned. If they hadn't done so, it could have raised the suspicion of the bank authorities, especially while clearing the other applications. Jani had sought the loans through direct sales agents."

The fraud came to light when a verifying officer with HDFC Bank, Kiran Karnik, found that the Jani had submitted fake documents. To cross check he then dialed the number given against Shetty's name, but the call was attended by a man named Shabbir Patel. Thereafter he lodged a complaint with the Powai police.

"The bank officials, along with the police, laid a trap for Jani and caught him while he had gone to collect the loan cheques," said Rupwate. "Jani revealed that he carried out the fraud after receiving instructions from the kingpin, Sahil alias Sohil alias Abhay Singh alias Rajesh alias Vijay Saksena alias Ajay Saksena. He has never met or seen Saksena ; the others involved in the racket, too, haven't met one another."

Further giving out details about the racket, sub-inspector Keshavkumar Kasar said, "Jani was assigned to get hold of people seeking loans. Their signatures were then taken on loan application forms. These people had no idea that the documents would be misused."

In this connection three other persons-Anil Shelar, Chandar Sharma and Sanjay alias Ajit have been arrested as well. Their documents were used to get the loans. The property for which the loans were sought was in Karve village, Navi Mumbai. "A member of the gang was stationed at the property site. Whenever bank officials visited the place, he used to put up nameplates with Shetty and Mhatre written on them," he said.

The police has booked all the accused for impersonation, cheating and forgery under the IPC and have been remanded in jail custody. The police also informed that Saksena has been operating from Delhi and is missing at present.

Pankaj Jani had applied for the loans in the names of other people but used his own pictures. Picture 1 is the photograph he used while applying in the name of Birendra Sadhu Shetty and Picture 3 while using the name of Santosh Mhatre. Picture 2 is the building in Navi Mumbai for which the loans were allegedly taken. Jani, who is part of a bigger racket, had taken two loans of (Rs 40 lakh and Rs 49 lakh) of the seven loans he had applied for. The others, which were pending, were for Rs 50 lakh, Rs 41 lakh, Rs 54 lakh, Rs 60 lakh and Rs 24 lakh