Assam CID arrests man in alleged Rs 40 lakh Canara Bank vehicle loan fraud case

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Assam Police has arrested a Guwahati-based man in connection with an alleged Rs 40 lakh vehicle loan fraud involving multiple branches of Canara Bank, officials said.

The accused, identified as Ramen Saikia alias Jaan Saikia, was arrested from his residence in Guwahati on October 6 following an investigation into the alleged fraudulent procurement of vehicle loans from Canara Bank branches in the greater Guwahati area.

According to the complaint lodged by the Senior Manager of Canara Bank’s Ulubari branch, the bank had sanctioned and disbursed four vehicle loans of ₹8 lakh each between February and June 2023. The loans were sanctioned in the names of Juri Mahanta Saikia, Madhuparna Choudhary, Leline Rabha and Samudra Jyoti Kashyap.

Another vehicle loan of Rs 8 lakh was sanctioned and disbursed by Canara Bank’s Amingaon branch in the name of Jaan Saikia under the MSME Vahan Scheme. The loan was reportedly sanctioned for the purchase of a Bolero BS6 commercial vehicle.

The loan applications were allegedly accompanied by vehicle quotations obtained from M/S Ramnarayan Shiprasad, an authorised dealer of Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd. in Jorhat.

The alleged fraud came to light after the loan accounts turned into Non-Performing Assets (NPAs). An internal enquiry conducted by the bank’s Administrative Office subsequently detected several discrepancies in the loan documents, according to the complaint.

The enquiry allegedly found that Saikia, along with his associates, had submitted forged vehicle quotations, Registration Certificate (RC) copies, insurance documents and other supporting papers to the concerned Canara Bank branches.

The use of the allegedly forged documents enabled the accused and his associates to obtain vehicle loans totalling Rs 40 lakh from multiple Canara Bank branches, the complaint alleged.

Following the complaint, the CID initiated an investigation into the suspected financial fraud and arrested Saikia, son of Dhaneswar Saikia and a resident of Birubari in Guwahati, on October 6.

The CID is continuing its investigation to identify other individuals allegedly involved in the case and determine the extent of the suspected loan fraud and the alleged network behind it.