Daijiworld Media Network - Noida
Noida, Jan 22: The Noida Police have arrested three persons for allegedly cheating banks by using forged documents to fraudulently obtain vehicle loans and selling the vehicles in the second-hand market, officials said on Wednesday.
The accused have been identified as Amit Gupta (44), Anurag Singh (27) and Naveen Bhavri (48). They were arrested on Tuesday night by the Phase-2 police, assisted by the Crisis Response Team (CRT).
According to police, the trio created fake identities using forged Aadhaar cards, PAN cards and voter ID cards to open bank accounts and secure vehicle loans.
“After obtaining financing for the vehicles, the accused allegedly sold them at lower prices in the second-hand market,” said Vindhyachal Tiwari, Station House Officer (SHO) of Phase-2 police station.
Police said five luxury four-wheelers were involved in the fraud, including a Mahindra Thar, Maruti Grand Vitara, Kia Seltos, Mahindra Scorpio and Urban Cruiser Taisor. During the investigation, police recovered 28 forged documents, including Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, voter ID cards and registration certificates (RCs) bearing different names and addresses.
“The total value of the vehicles involved in the case is estimated to be around Rs 1 crore,” said DCP Central Noida Shakti Mohan Awasthy.
The fraud came to light when bank agents failed to contact borrowers after EMIs were not paid and discovered that the addresses mentioned in loan documents were fake. In some cases, the accused allegedly removed hypothecation details from the RCs and obtained fresh loans on the same vehicles, police said.
Officials added that the vehicles were sold across multiple states, including Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, and Rajasthan. Amit Gupta is reported to have a prior criminal record in Delhi, and verification of the accused’s antecedents in other states is currently underway.
Police are also gathering details from banks and finance companies linked to the case. An FIR has been registered under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including Sections 318(4) (cheating), 336(3) (forgery), 338 (forgery of valuable security), 340(2) (using forged documents as genuine) and 3(5) (common intention).