Bhadohi (UP), Oct 23 (PTI) An FIR has been registered against five persons, including the owner of a firm appointed by a bank to check the purity of gold pledged by clients, after a loan of over Rs 13 lakh was sanctioned by the bank taking fake jewellery as collateral, police said on Wednesday.

Superintendent of Police Meenakshi Katyayan said that on the complaint of Furkan Ali Khan, the manager of the Gyanpur branch of Union Bank of India, a case of fraud and criminal conspiracy was registered on Tuesday against Raju Seth, owner of M/s Bhavana Ornaments, and Aarti Devi, Ajay Kumar, Rajneesh and Zubaid Alam who all took a gold loan.

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The officer said that during the tenure of the former branch manager Gulab Singh, between April 5 and May 9 this year, a total gold loan of Rs 13,50,687 was given to Aarti Devi, Ajay, Rajneesh and Zubaid on the approval of Raju Sethwhose firm was entrusted with the task of checking the purity of the pledged gold.

On September 27, 2024, upon re-examination by another firm, the jewellery pledged with the bank by them was found to be fake.

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A detailed probe is on, the SP said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)