Former J&K Bank employee arrested in multi-crore loan scam in Jammu

Jammu, Feb 7 (PTI) The Crime Branch of Jammu and Kashmir police on Friday arrested the main accused in a multi-crore loan scam in J&K Bank immediately after his bail application was denied by the court here.

The arrested individual, identified as Rohit Taroch, is a former employee of the BC Road branch of the bank in Jammu and was terminated from service following the unearthing of loan scam to the tune of Rs 1.44 crore, officials said.

The arrest came following a written complaint from the then branch manager of the bank to the Crime Branch.

It was alleged that between 2018 and 2019, 14 borrowers approached the bank for personal consumption loans (PCL) under the bank’s Sahulat and Saral scheme for government employees, they said.

The borrowers claimed to be employees of military farm house in Jammu, administrative commandant station headquarters in Satwari and station headquarters in Domana. They submitted purported salary certificates and other documents issued by these entities, they said.

Based on these documents and guarantees provided by the accused, the branch sanctioned and disbursed loan facilities. However, subsequent investigations revealed that these individuals were not employed by these military units and the documents they submitted were fake, the officials said.

This fraudulent activity resulted in a total loss of Rs 144.53 lakh.

Senior Superintendent of Police (Crime), Jammu, Benam Tosh, confirmed the arrest of the main accused following the rejection of his bail plea.

The investigation into the case is going on, they said.