Tollywood film plot in SBI loan fraud: CBI conducts searches in Hyderabad on Renlife

By Newsmeter Network  Published on  2 Jan 2020 3:15 PM GMT
Tollywood film plot in SBI loan fraud: CBI conducts searches in Hyderabad on Renlife

Hyderabad: Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday conducted searches in Hyderabad on Renlife Labs Private Limited and State Bank of India top officials in a Rs 16 crore loan fraud case.

The modes operandi of the loan fraud resembles a typical Tollywood plot Abhimanyudu (Irumbu Thirai in Tamil) starring Vishal where the villain obtains loans without the knowledge of the persons with forged documents.

The company is into purchase and sale of human blood-derived products like Albumin, Immunoglobulin and Factor eight used for haemophilia.

CBI booked the FIR under criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust by public servant and forgery against the accused.

The investigative bureau named Pawan Kumar (Relationship Manager of Medium Enterprises), J Nageswara Sarma (Chief Manager), Shashi Kumar, (SBI Mahabubgunj branch manager), Renlife Labs directors Arul Prakash Ramakrishnan, Mohammed Abdul Azeez and others.

SBI region manager of Charminar region filed a complaint with CBI in which he alleged that the account of Rs 16 crore turned NPA (non-performing assets) and fraud account on March 18, 2019.

Modus Operandi of the case

The modus operandi of the case is that the scamsters misused the name of one Vijay Raghavendra Mysore of Bengaluru and added him as one of the directors. They later created forged documents that Vijay Raghavendra's father died and used the family property as collateral security to the bank for obtaining a loan.

Saifabad SBI branch initially rejected the loan. However, Mahabubgunj branch had sanctioned an asset-backed loan of Rs 16 crore by accepting an immovable property of vacant land of three acres, 30 guntas of Bangalore South.

Interestingly, the then AGM (Cybercrimes) of SBI, Dhanarajana Rao who was branch head of Mahabubgunj branch, entertained middlemen and allowed the loan proposal. Apart from Arul and Azeez, another director Vijay Mysore Raghavendra was inducted at the time of application through impersonation.

The directors of the company informed the bank that Vijay Mysore Raghavendra's father, M V Raghavendra died and produced fake proof of death certificate. The photos of Vijaya Raghavendra affixed on loan documents didn't match with that of PAN card and driving licenses. SBI officials Dhanarjana Rao and Pawan Kumar resorted to gross negligence in the pre-sanction stage. Nageswara Sarma and Pawan failed to verify the antecedents and KYC of landowners. They also failed to check the genuineness of death of MV Raghavendra.

The other accused Manager Shashi Shankar disbursed the loan without seeking approval of branch head and violated rules.

How the scam unravelled

The scam came into light when the original Vijay Mysore Raghavendra filed a complaint on February 2, 2019 with Chief Manager of Mahabubgunj branch alleging that his name was misused and Rs 16 crore loan was availed in the name of Renlife Labs using his family property. He also said that his signature didn't match with documents about the company and photographs pasted had no resemblance with him.

Given serious lapses, J Nageswara Sarma and Shashi Shankar have been placed under suspension and vigilance disciplinary case has been initiated. During the investigation, it was found that the original sale deed, memorandum of deposit of title deed, irrevocable GPA said to be executed at Common Wealth of Massachusetts USA and death intimation issued by Shreya Hospital on June 21, 2018, are all forged.

Investigations found that one MN Khaja, a biotechnologies father of one of the promoter directors is the key person in an organisation. His son Abul Azeez was a student of pharmacy. It is alleged Khaja hatched a conspiracy with a financial consultant Janakirama Sharma and inducted Mysore Vijaya Raghavendra, who is one of the owners of the family property at Bengaluru. They have mispresented a third person in the name of Vijaya Raghavendra and created that his dad M V Raghavendra died and caused Rs 16 crore loss to the bank.

Out of Rs 16 crore, an amount of Rs 1.7 crore was credited to Renlife, and Rs 16.8 credited to Virchow biotech. Virchow recredited the amount to Renlife.

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