Four held for forging bank guarantee documents in Telangana

HYDERABAD: The central crime station on Saturday arrested four persons, including two from a Kolkata-based gang, for selling fake bank guarantees and seized 60 fake guarantee documents, two cheques, and five mobile phones from their possession.

The accused were identified as Godishala Naga Raju, an advocate-cum-loan agent, of Warangal, Naresh Sharma, of Jaipur in Rajasthan, Nilotpal Das and Subhrajit Ghosal, both of Kolkata in West Bengal. They were arrested at Uppal Crossroads.

The police said that the fake guarantees seized from Das and Ghosal were of IndusInd Bank, Bank of India, and Punjab National Bank, worth Rs.45 crore.

CCS additional commissioner Sneha Mehra said that bank guarantees are generally sought from companies to which a government is awarding a contract, as a security deposit.

The scam came to light when Naga Raju promised officials of Harshitha Infra Engineering Private Limited of providing bank guarantees of `3.25 crore for 12 biomining contracts awarded by the Karimnagar Smart City Corporation Limited.

According to the police, company officials Prajwel and Sandeep Reddy contacted Naga Raju, an acquaintance, who promised to provide the guarantees on a commission basis.

Subsequently, Naga Raju contact the three others, after which Das and Ghosal prepared 12 fake bank guarantees of IndusInd Bank, Park Street branch in Kolkata. The duo pocketed `47 lakh in commission, while Naga Raju took two cheques of `1.1 crores from the company.

The police said that Raju created a fake bank website as well, and when officials sent an email to the address mentioned on it, the accused responded, confirming the same.

However, when the hard copies of the guarantees were sent to the branch for verification, it was stated that they were fake and the police were intimated of the same.