A major gold loan fraud has been uncovered at a Bank in Siruguppa, where staff members were allegedly involved in replacing pledged gold with fake ornaments and tampering with loan records. The scam, amounting to ₹19 lakh, came to light during an internal audit, revealing multiple irregularities in gold loan transactions.
Hemavati of Bagewadi village had taken a loan of ₹10.35 lakh by pledging 339.5 grams of gold in her name. However, during the audit, the pledged gold was found to be fake. In another case, Yasin of Nagar had pledged 42 grams of gold for a loan of ₹80,000. When his loan account was reviewed a year later, it was discovered that the loan had been fraudulently closed. Basavaraja of Tekkalkote, who had pledged gold as collateral, found that a gold ring weighing 4.2 grams was missing when he repaid the loan amount.
Following these revelations, the bank manager registered a complaint at the Siruguppa police station, naming Karthik, Srinivas, and goldsmith Ramanagara Gowda from the bank’s mortgage department as the accused. With a total estimated fraud of ₹19 lakh, the police have begun an investigation into the case. The incident has raised serious concerns over the security of pledged assets in financial institutions, prompting calls for stricter oversight and verification processes.