Commissionerate Police advises NBFCs
Twin City Commissioner of Police Dr RP Sharma on Saturday, while interacting with representatives of the nonbanking financial companies (NBFCs) operating in the city, advised them to properly inquire about the source of gold from the customers while releasing loans against the precious metal.
The Commissionerate Police conducted an interaction programme after the police found criminals using NBFCs as their safe havens for mortgaging stolen gold jewelleries and transforming their stolen ornaments into cash.
Recently, an accused, Balaram Martha, had purchased gold weighing 450 gram worth Rs 14.60 lakh from HM Jewellers of the city by depositing a blank cheque and suddenly gone to IIFl, a NBFC, to get gold loan. He successfully got a loan of Rs 8.60 lakh. Similarly, an accused had stolen gold jewellery from lalchand Jewellery shop and mortgaged it in a NBFC in the city.
During the interaction, the representatives of the NBFCs spoke about their procedure while awarding gold loans to their customers. Dr Sharma termed the procedure weak and suggested the NBFC officials to strengthen the procedure by verifying the source of the yellow metal while dealing with customers.
The CP also told the officials to take concrete measures to check these practices. “Take some standard measures to keep the thieves and looters away from your office,” said Dr Sharma. More than 30 representatives of the NBFCs including Muthoot Finance, IIFl, Mannapuram and Cholamandalam attended the interaction.