A serious complaint has been filed at the Bajpe police station in Mangaluru, accusing Dinesh Hegde, the former manager of Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank’s Kateel branch, of committing a major fraud. According to the complaint, Hegde abused his position of authority to defraud the bank and its customers of a substantial amount—Rs 90.19 lakh.
Vijay Ashok Dotihaal, the regional manager of the bank, lodged the complaint alleging that Hegde misused his power in several ways. The accusations include using fake gold ornaments as collateral, forging signatures, and taking out loans for personal gain, all at the bank’s expense.
Hegde was the manager at the Kateel branch from May 25, 2021, to May 13, 2024. During his tenure, he is said to have replaced genuine gold ornaments with counterfeit ones. The fraud came to light when Suma Suvarna, a customer, requested an additional loan based on gold she had previously pledged. The current branch manager discovered that the gold in the bank’s locker was fake, which led to an investigation.
Upon inspection, it was revealed that 30 loan accounts were linked to fake gold ornaments. Hegde had approved loans for four accounts without proper verification. Customers including Gurudutt Rao, Tulasini, Sukanya, Prabhavati, Vittal, and Mamata were among those defrauded. Hegde allegedly replaced their genuine gold with fake ones and then pledged this fake gold at the Mangaluru branch of Manappuram Finance. He retrieved the fake gold on July 18, 2024.
The fraudulent activities extended further. Hegde also allegedly pledged fake gold in the names of deceased customers Lakshmi and Nishchala, and other customers Anasuya and Leela, taking loans for himself. He deceived both bank employees, such as Harinaksi and Shilpa, and customers like Geetha, Usha, Suma Suvarna, and Dheeraj A P, convincing them to give him their gold with promises of redemption.
Hegde used similar tactics with his wife Shreya and his friend Ravindra Anant Nayak. He forged the bank’s appraiser’s signatures to obtain loans against the fake gold. The preliminary investigation by Vijay Ashok Dotihaal and senior bank officials has confirmed these fraudulent activities.
