Mumbai News: Six Home-Buyers Lost ₹26 Lakh In Loan Scam

Mumbai: The Kotak Mahindra Bank has filed a case against an unidentified person for allegedly duping six people of ₹2.6 lakh. Posing as a bank employee, the alleged perpetrator approached the victims offering loans. The imposter sent them a fabricated approval letter bearing the bank’s official letterhead and collected processing fees from the customers.

As per the case, in June 2023, Harish Khawale registered a complaint with Kotak Mahindra Bank. Khawale said that Mashish Pawar, impersonating a bank employee, contacted him and offered him a home loan.

Khawale submitted the required documents via email at Pawar’s suggestion. Subsequently, Pawar sent a loan sanction letter of ₹50 lakh, seemingly from Kotak Mahindra Bank, with the bank logo and under the name ‘Kotak Bank Limited.’ Pawar then demanded various charges, including legal fees, processing fees, and disbursement amount charges, totalling ₹65,495, which Khawale transferred via Gpay. Despite the payment, no loan was provided to Khawale.

The accused used a similar modus operandi to dupe other people, including Avinash Narayan Kumar, Pramod Patil, Atul Muzumdar and Sanjog Khedaskar. Through this fraudulent scheme, a total of ₹2,66,505 was collected from multiple people.

Ashwin Kinni, 41, deputy vice president of Kotak Mahindra Bank, filed a case against the unidentified individual under sections 34 (common intention), 419 (cheating), 420 (cheating and dishonestly), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the Indian Penal Code, along with relevant sections of the Information Technology Act. The case was formally lodged.