Babaji ka thullu: Private finance ‘firm’ dupes woman of Rs 10 lakh

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: A woman has allegedly been duped of Rs 10 lakh by a group of conmen posing as private financiers in the city. A complaint has been filed against six people in connection with the case at the Vyalikaval Police Station.

In her complaint to the police, the victim, a resident of Sahakara Nagar, claimed that she was seeking a loan of Rs 10 crore to buy a certain property in the city. She saw an advertisement in a newspaper put up by a private financial firm, identified as Saminathan financial Services, and decided to approach them for help.

The victim met a woman, Suguna, at the firm, who later introduced her to the managing director and senior manager, who identified themselves as Saminath Subbaiah Shetty and Lakshmi Narayana. Later the firm manager, Venkatesh, allegedly met the victim and briefed her about the conditions in order to apply for a loan.

The victim stated that initially, the managers convinced her to pay Rs 6000 towards legal charges, Rs 30,000 towards valuation, Rs 10,000 to clear the verification and another Rs 10,000 towards stamp duty registration and scanning apart from Rs 5 lakh towards loan insurance.

The men had assured to refund of the total payment along with the interest to the victim if the loan gets cancelled for any reason. Believing them, the victim allegedly paid a total of Rs 10 lakh from two different bank accounts while applying for a loan of Rs 10.4 crore.

However, when there was no communication from the firm for several days, the victim visited the accused again and received a loan sanction letter on December 7 and was assured that the loan amount will be sent to her bank account on December 22.

Later, when the victim called the accused on the promised date, she found all the contact numbers were switched off. She also found the office closed. Immediately, she approached the jurisdictional police and filed a complaint against the accused.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused persons had conned several other residents with a similar modus operandi,” an officer from Vyalikaval police station told News Trail. “Efforts are on to trace the persons,” he added.