Appraiser arrested in Gajapati bank gold loan fraud case

BERHAMPUR: Police on Saturday arrested the gold appraiser of the Mahila branch of Berhampore Cooperative Central (BCC) Bank in Paralakhemundi in Gajapati district for alleged involvement in a gold loan fraud case. The man was arrested here.
“Korukonda Gopi Krishna, 33, of Palace Street in Paralakhemundi, the gold appraiser, had taken out four gold loans from the bank by mortgaging ‘gold-plated bronze’ ornaments about four years ago.We also seized several documents and the mortgaged metal,” said inspector in-charge, model police station, Paralakhemundi, Bibekanand Swain.
Police have issued a notice to a former branch manager of the bank to appear at the police station for further investigation.
The gold appraiser had taken out loans of Rs 6.84 lakh by mortgaging ‘gold’ weighing around 480 gram in 2016-17. “During inquiry, we found the gold was fake. The outstanding dues of all four gold loans have reached Rs 11.53 lakh,” Swain said. “We verified the genuineness of the mortgaged ornaments through other appraisers. They also certified that these are imitation ornaments,” he said.
Swain said they had issued a notice to the then branch manager of the bank, R Bhujang Rao, for his alleged involvement in the gold loan fraud case. Rao had disbursed the gold loans to Gopi without inviting another gold appraiser to test the ornaments, said police. They, however, said his involvement would be established only after inquiry.
The fraud was detected after the deputy registrar of the cooperative societies (DRCSs), Ganjam, launched an inquiry into the allegations on Thursday. The bank’s assistant manager, Binod Kumar Nanda, lodged a complaint with police following the detection of the fraud.
Ganjam collector, Vijay Amruta Kulange, who is also the administrator of the BCC Bank, said they are waiting for the investigation reports from the police to take action against the guilty.