Four nabbed for mortgaging fake gold and duping firms

A gang of four that duped six financial institutions in Mumbai, Thane and Ratnagiri with gold loans has been busted. The group mortgaged fake gold jewellery made by one of the accused and cheated the institutions of Rs 13.45 lakh. The matter came to light when a Kalwa woman loaned Rs 1.70 lakh to Sushant Salvi, who gave her 81 gram of gold. When she got the jewellery checked from a gold jeweler she learned it was gold plated silver and lodged a police complaint.

On June 19, Kalwa police arrested Salvi, 35, a resident of Kalwa, for duping the woman. "This was followed by two more complaints against him by Muthoot Finance," said senior police inspector Shekhar Bagade, Kalwa police station.

Salvi had sought gold loan from Muthoot Finance from their Kalwa and Naupada branches in Thane.

During investigations, Salvi confessed that Rasbihari Nita Imanna, 34, from Ratnagiri, Liyaqat Abdul Qadar Shaikh alias Raju Shahani, 43, from Airoli and Aniket Chandrakant Kadam, 34, from Ratnagiri were involved in this crime.

In the past four years, the quartet duped seven institutions including Muthoot Finance, Laxmi Balasaheb Nagri Sahakari Sanstha of Ratnagiri, Yadav Rao Ghag of Gramin Sheti Sahkari Pat Sanstha of Chiplun, and many private individuals. "They mortgaged more than 688 gram of fake gold jewellery claiming it to be 23 carat gold, and got loan of Rs 13.45 lakh from all these institutions and people," said Bagde.

Accused Imanna made the fake jewellery. When the cops raided his Ratnagiri workshop, they found 551 gram gold and Rs 1.50 lakh cash.