Mumbai, Nov 28 (IANS) In a crackdown against a vehicle loan fraud at State Bank of India, the Enforcement Directorate searched 12 residential and office premises of loan borrowers and car dealers in Pune and seized incriminating documents, an official said on Friday.

The ED investigation revealed that the accused borrowers fraudulently availed high-value car loans based on forged documents and thereby cheated the bank.

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Mumbai Zonal Office, conducted search operations on November 25-26 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

The searches were also directed at the then-branch manager of SBI, Amar Kulkarni.

The search proceedings led to the identification of various immovable properties purchased by the loan borrowers, incriminating documents, as well as seizure of various high-end cars from their premises u/s 17 of PMLA, 2002.

The ED initiated an investigation based on FIRs registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation, ACB, Pune and Shivajinagar Police Station, Pune, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

It was alleged that Kulkarni, while serving as Chief Manager at SBI, University Road Branch, Pune, during 2017–2019, abused his official position and criminally conspired with Aditya Sethia, Auto Loan Counsellor at SBI, along with certain borrowers, to cheat SBI by fraudulently processing and recommending high-value car loans.

According to the ED, public servant Amar Kulkarni, in pursuance of the said conspiracy, improperly and dishonestly processed and recommended the high-value car loan proposals of the accused borrowers in violation of the lending policy of the bank without verification of the said bogus/forged documents.

In many loan cases, fake quotations with inflated amounts were submitted to the bank to increase the margin money included in the loan and the loans were approved using fake documents, the ED said.

During investigation and consequent search proceedings, it was gathered that various high-value cars, including BMW, Volvo, Mercedes and Land Rover, were purchased by borrowers based on fake documents in conspiracy with the loan agent and the branch manager of SBI.

–IANS

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