The Bank Fraud Investigation Wing of the Central Crime Branch has arrested two persons, including a gold jewellery appraiser, for defrauding Canara Bank, Mint branch, to the tune of ₹2.38 crore, by pledging fake jewellery.
The two — Saravanan, 42, of Chintadripet, the bank’s gold appraiser and Janakiraman, 39 of Saidapet, were arrested by the police, following a complaint from the deputy manager of the bank, Eduppulapatti Vijayasankar.
Internal audit
The complainant said that during an internal audit, it was found that all the jewellery pledged for 21 loans were fake. The branch manager, Ramesh Mallugunda, the guardian of the jewellery, had quit the job from April 1 without any notice.
It was also found that the 21 loans were sanctioned following appraisal reports from Saravanan between October 2024 and March 2025, he said.
‘Manager sanctioned loans’
During inquiry, Saravanan told the officers that Ramesh alone had sanctioned loans to 21 customers after calling them to the bank, and that he had issued the appraisal reports only at the insistence of the manager.
Further probe revealed that the original gold jewellery was replaced with fake ones.
They caused a loss of ₹2.38 crore, the police said.
It was found that the loan was sanctioned in the name of Janakiraman, though he had not pledged any jewellery.
Published – August 08, 2025 12:59 am IST
