Ahmedabad: A Chandkheda man took a loan of Rs 5.48 lakh a year ago by mortgaging some gold jewellery, from the bank but the jewellery turned out to be fake when the company went ahead to auction it.
A complaint had been launched by the branch manager of a loan company against the man. Investigation had been started by the Navrangpura police.
According to Navrangpura police, “We have lodged a complaint filed by Jayvir Chauhan, branch manager of India Infoline Finance Ltd in Law Garden. As per the complaint, Jitendra Soni, a resident of New CG Road, had visited their office on October 9 last year. He had brought 109.88 gms of gold jewellery with him to mortgage. Company valuers Nirav Patel and Monika Sharma valued the gold and passed his loan of Rs 1.92 lakh back then.”
“He came again on November 2 last year and availed another loan of Rs 3.56 lakh by mortgaging 203 grams of gold. However, after availing both the loans, Soni did not pay any interest or instalments against the loan”.
The police added. “The company reminded him a number of times to repay the loan amount and take his jewellery, but he never turned up. The recovery officer even wrote to him , informing him about the auction. When Soni did not respond, the company went on to auction the gold on April 22 this year. However, the bidders informed them that the mortgaged gold was simply gold-coated. Following this, a complaint was lodged against Soni with us on Thursday.”
Legal Manager of India Infoline, Saurabh Napit, said, “Usually, when anything comes to us for mortgage, we cross-check its authenticity. However, the same becomes difficult for jewellery, as there is no way to check its authenticity to the core without cutting or damaging it.”