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Forged documents worth Rs 26.4 million seized

Financial instruments worth Rs 26.4 million rupees were seized from a Lucknow resident, who was arrested from a guesthouse in Ludhiana on Friday night, police said. They suspect the papers and seals are either forged or stolen as the man could not satisfactorily explain how he acquired them.

Senior Superintendent of Police Gaurav Yadav said apart from financial instruments, around 50 seals and stamps of various organisations were recovered from the man, who name is given as Anand Prasad.

Bank cheques, drafts, dividend certificates, blank Indira Vikas Patras, Kisan Vikas Patras and National Savings Certificates emerged from two suitcases, which the police seized. When an explanation was sought, the accused tried to wriggle out by first claiming that his local associates had inadvertently left the suitcases behind.

Later, Prasad said he had brought these instruments to raise a loan of Rs 2.50 lakh for his heart bypass surgery. But sustained questioning till the wee hours of Saturday morning led to the unearthing of a scam to con people and institutions, Yadav said.

Police are looking out for three local associates of the accused with whom he had planned to raise bank loans by using these financial instruments as collateral. Police parties would also be sent to Delhi and Uttar Pradesh where Anand Prasad, in his late forties, had been arrested and bailed out for similar scams in the past, he added.

While cheques and drafts were worth Rs 250 million, stolen IVSs, KVPs and NSCs were valued at Rs 1.2 million and dividend certificates of various companies at Rs 2,00,000. The certificates were in sundry names. Yadav said it was quite possible that some postal staff were also involved in the scam.

The allegedly forged financial instruments belonged to various organisations - Hindustan Petroleum, State Bank of India, Forbes Gokak Limited, Universal Cables, Industrial Development Bank of India, United Trust of India, Reliance Industries, Punjab National Bank, Dena Bank, Indian Bank and Vijaya Bank.

UNI

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