Manager accused of defrauding bank of Rs 90.19 lakh in Mangaluru

Manager accused of defrauding bank of Rs 90.19 lakh in Mangaluru

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, August 5, 2024: A complaint has been registered at Mangaluru’s Bajpe police station accusing the manager of Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank, Kateel branch of cheating the bank. The complaint alleges that the suspect misused his authority, pledged fake gold ornaments, forged signatures, and took loans totaling Rs 90.19 lakh for personal use, thereby defrauding the bank and its customers.

Vijay Ashok Dotihaal, regional manager of the bank in his complaint said that Dinesh Hegde, who was the manager at the Kateel branch, created fake records and committed breach of trust and fraud against the bank and its customers.

Dinesh Hegde was serving as branch manager from May 25, 2021, to May 13, 2024, and has now been transferred to another branch. He had allegedly replaced gold ornaments with fake ones. When Suma Suvarna, a customer, requested an additional loan on her previously pledged gold on June 18, the current branch manager inspected the gold in the bank’s locker and found it to be fake. This raised suspicions, leading to a thorough examination of the gold ornaments at the Kateel branch. It was discovered that 30 loan accounts were associated with fake gold ornaments.

During Dinesh Hegde’s tenure, he approved loans for four accounts without verifying the documents. Customers Gurudutt Rao, Tulasini, Sukanya, Prabhavati, Vittal, and Mamata had pledged gold ornaments which he replaced with fake ones. He then pledged the gold ornaments at the Mangaluru branch of Manappuram Finance. Later, he retrieved the gold pledged on July 18, 2024.

Dinesh Hegde also committed similar frauds in the names of deceased customer Lakshmi and Nishchala, as well as customers Anasuya and Leela, by pledging fake gold ornaments at another bank and taking loans for personal use. He misled bank employees working on contract basis Harinaksi and Shilpa, and customers Geetha, Usha, Suma Suvarna, and Dheeraj A P, into believing he needed money and took their gold ornaments, promising to redeem them later.

He then took loans in their names for personal use. He also did the same using his wife Shreya’s name and friend Ravindra Anant Nayak’s name. Dinesh Hegde forged the bank’s appraiser’s signatures and pledged fake gold ornaments to obtain loans. This was confirmed during the preliminary investigation conducted by Vijay Ashok Dotihaal and senior bank officials, said the complainant.