The Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police has arrested a 48-year-old former manager of a housing finance company for allegedly duping his employer of Rs1.5 crore by disbursing loans to fictitious entities on the basis of forged documents. He was wanted in 35 cases, a declared proclaimed offender in eight cases and carried a reward of Rs 50,000.
“The accused Vishwanath Tantri was apprehended on March 29 from Bangalore following investigations into a complaint filed by Maharishi Housing Development Finance Corporation (MHDFC) where he allegedly duped the company by extending housing loans to a large number of non-existent people,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (EOW) Sandeep Goel.
Tantri, who hails from Bangalore, did his BSc from Udupi College and started his career as a Quality Control Inspector in Jagdale Engineering Product Group. He has also worked in Canfin Home Finance and Weizmann Homes ltd. before joining Maharishi Housing Development Finance Corporation (MHDFC).
Goel said that the complainant told the police that during 1997 to 2005, Tantri, who was manager of its Bangalore branch, allegedly gave loans to a large number of people but later during scrutiny, it emerged that the properties against which the loans were availed were non-existent and the guarantors were not traceable.
“After an internal inquiry, MHDFC got a total 36 FIRs registered at the Sarita Vihar police station on Court directions in November 2006 and subsequently all the cases were transferred to EOW in May 2009 for further investigations," he added.
"Glaring and major discrepancies were found in the application forms as well as supporting documents attached for the purpose of availing the said loans. Many of the documents including salary slips of Bharat Earth Movers ltd. (BEMl), physical verification certificates, property papers and verification certificates from Tehsildars were found to be fabricated and forged," Goel added.
The entire scam was encompassed in a web of deceit and an endless trail of fake and non-existent papers and persons. It was found that the documents enclosed by the borrower, co-borrower and that of the guarantors along with the loan application forms were all verified in person allegedly by Tantri.