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The CBI's Economic Offences Branch, Chennai, has booked a landlord, builder, bank-valuers, buyers, and unknown-others for defrauding SBI of INR 5.5 crore through a fraudulent housing-loan. In 2020, siblings S Vakisan and S Deivanai secured a INR 4.26 crore loan for a Tiruporur villa, falsely-valued at INR 6.3 crore by bank-empanelled valuers. An audit later revealed the villa was built in 2016 and previously-mortgaged. The actual-value was INR 3.5 crore. The bank suspected the landowner's involvement and filed a CBI complaint. Following a Madras High Court directive, the CBI has registered a case for investigation.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Chennai has registered a case against a landlord, a builder, two bank-empanelled valuers, two buyers, and other unidentified individuals for allegedly defrauding the State Bank of India (SBI) of INR 5.5 crore by securing two housing loans for the same property. The Economic Offences Branch of the CBI is leading the investigation into this financial fraud. Advertisement
According to the FIR, siblings S Vakisan and S Deivanai from Puducherry applied for a housing loan of INR 5 crore at SBI's Iyyapanthangal branch in 2020. The loan was meant for purchasing a villa situated on a 4,520 sq ft plot with a super built-up area of 5,500 sq ft in Tiruporur on East Coast Road (ECR). SBI had engaged bank-approved valuers M Vijayakumar and M S Senthil, who assessed the property and reported its worth as INR 6.3 crore. Based on this inflated valuation, the bank approved a loan of INR 4.26 crore for the applicants.
Initially, Vakisan and Deivanai made regular payments toward the loan until April 2021. However, citing financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they sought an extension on their repayment schedule. The bank granted their request, allowing them to extend their repayment period until July 2023.
A subsequent audit of SBI's loan records uncovered serious irregularities in the transaction. Investigators found that the villa in question was not newly constructed but had been built in 2016. Additionally, SBI had already sanctioned a housing loan for the same property to its builder, D Santhosh. This raised suspicions of a fraudulent scheme involving multiple parties.
Further scrutiny of property-related documents exposed more inconsistencies. The layout plan for the project had received approval in 2011, but the plot itself was not regularized until 2019. Most significantly, an independent assessment determined that the actual market value of the villa was only INR 3.5 crore, significantly lower than the INR 6.3 crore valuation provided by the bank's empanelled valuers. These findings pointed to deliberate overvaluation to facilitate the fraudulent loan approval.
SBI suspected the involvement of the landowner, Vummidi Kritsh, in the fraudulent transaction. As a result, the bank lodged a complaint with the CBI, urging legal action against all those responsible. Subsequently, SBI approached the Madras High Court, seeking intervention in the matter. The court recently issued a directive instructing the CBI to formally investigate all implicated individuals.
The case highlights the growing concern over banking fraud involving collusion between borrowers, property developers, and bank officials. Further audits and legal proceedings are expected to provide a clearer picture of how the fraudulent loans were approved and whether other officials were complicit.
Source: TNN
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