Man tries to dupe bank posing as friend of Jaitley's son, held

Mumbai: A 28-year-old youth has been arrested for allegedly trying to obtain a Rs 7 crore loan from a leading government-owned bank after posing as a close friend of Union Minister Arun Jaitley’s son, police said today. The accused, identified as one Japjeev Singh Chaddha, a resident of suburban Santacruz, was arrested yesterday under Sections 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating) of IPC, Crime Branch Inspector (Property Cell), Nandkumar Gopale said today.[caption id=“attachment_1726413” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Union Minister Arun Jaitley. Image courtesy PIB[/caption] “Chaddha was produced before court, which remanded him in police custody till Thursday,” Gopale said. An FIR in connection with the case was filed at Marine Drive police station on Sunday by a chief legal officer deputed at Union Bank of India’s headquarters in south Mumbai and the accused was held on the same day, police said. According to police, the bank’s personnel had received a phone call in August this year from a person claiming to be Finance Minister Jaitley’s son who sought a favour by way of extension of credit limit on loan and lending of Rs 7 crore to a Mumbai-based company operated by his friend. The credit limit refers to the amount of credit that a financial institution extends to a client. The calls were initially made on the bank’s landline numbers but the caller later established contact with a senior official of the bank on his mobile phone. The mobile number which was used for calling the bank authorities was registered on the WhatsApp messaging application with the profile picture being a photograph of Jaitley with his son Rohan. The status message on WhatsApp read, “Get Well Soon Dad”, police said. Also, the phone number was registered in the name of Rohan Jaitley on Truecaller, described as the world’s largest verified mobile phone community, in a bid to hoodwink the bank. “The caller told bank authorities that Chaddha, who is his friend and partner in a Mumbai-based company which has an account with the bank, would approach them,” Gopale said. “Chaddha even met the bank officials,” Gopale said. “However, the inappropriate approach made to obtain the Rs 7 crore loan led the bank management to sense something amiss. Also, the phone number from which the recommendation was made is a local number. As a result, the bank reported the matter to Marine Drive police,” he said. The Property Cell of Crime Branch began a parallel investigation and arrested the accused, police said. “Inquiries suggested that Chaddha had himself spoken to the bank officials posing as Rohan. The accused was held in Santacruz,” Gopale said. Police also found that Chaddha had in the past cheated a casino in Goa in a similar fashion, managing to get Rs 5 lakh in cash with which to gamble. PTI