A Technopark employee with a relatively high salary has been accused of siphoning off around ₹2 crore in total from at least 20 of his colleagues and workplace acquaintances through an elaborate loan scam. Most of the victims are now faced with the prospect of repaying loan EMIs that are even double their monthly salaries as the loans were availed of from various private banks using their documents.
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They have filed complaints with the Chief Minister and the Banking Ombudsman against the person identified as Nishanth (35), a resident of Chempazhanthy, originally hailing from Vallakadavu, who was working as a technical lead in a software firm.
The alleged scam came to light when he stopped responding to his colleagues some months ago and they began enquiring about him. Joseph (name changed), one of the victims, told The Hindu that Nishanth, who was his superior, had requested the former for help with a loan in February last year.
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“He told me that he had availed himself of a loan of ₹15 lakh from private lenders for his wife’s mother’s operation and that goons sent by them were threatening his family. He asked me whether I can take a loan and help him. He said the amount would be repaid in four months after the sale of his property at Karyavattom. He told me that a person from Punjab National Bank would call me for documents. Next day, a person called Sudheesh called me and I passed on my PAN and Aadhar details and salary slip. Since I knew Nishanth for five years and as he was quite hard working and well-behaved, I did not sense anything amiss. But six months after availing of the loan of ₹22 lakh, he stopped responding and the EMIs started bouncing,” said Joseph.
Ramesh, another victim, says he had availed a loan of ₹65 lakh, out of which a large portion was remaining to be repaid. He and others suspect the involvement of some bank officials too in the fraud. Nishanth is believed to have shifted base to an unidentified location in West Asia.
Elaborate story
Tinu, a Technopark employee who did not fall for the fraud, was approached by the same person with an elaborate story on how private banks were now providing loans quickly as they had to meet targets.
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“His story was that the private banks were able to provide only a few loans due to COVID-19 and that the money set aside for loans has to be returned to the RBI if these are not availed of by the end of the financial year. So, they are ready to give loans quickly within two days with two basic documents. Since I was waiting for a home loan for quite some time, he pestered me to avail myself of this offer. However, I sensed something amiss when he said several people used this route to turn their black money into white,” said Mr. Tinu.
According to the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Cyber City Sub Division, Kazhakuttam, a complaint has been received in connection with the fraud. The case will be filed after preliminary investigations.
Prathidhwani, a welfare organisation of IT employees, is planning a mass petition of all the victims.