In Meerut and Saharanpur, cities of Uttar Pradesh, a massive loan scam took place in Indian Overseas Bank, where loans worth crores of rupees were given out using fake documents. To hide this scam, a dangerous plan was made — the aim was to kill the officer who was investigating it, so that the confidential report exposing the fraud could not be submitted.
Vigilance Officer Jitendra Kumar was leading the investigation into this fake loan scam. He was attacked twice—first on February 24 in the Partapur area of Meerut, and then again on March 1 in Rampur Manihar, Saharanpur. Fortunately, he survived both attacks. After thorough investigation, the police found out that these attacks were not random but part of a well-planned conspiracy linked directly to the scam.
According to SP City Ayush Vikram Singh, the conspiracy was led by Manoj Kumar, the bank manager of the Ghantaghar branch in Saharanpur. The vigilance team had started checking the bank’s records and found irregularities in the loan process. During this investigation, Manoj Kumar’s name also came up. Afraid that the report would expose his role in the fraud, he decided to eliminate the officer.
To carry out his plan, Manoj Kumar contacted a loan defaulter named Babar, who lived in Saharanpur. He promised Babar that if he managed to get Jitendra Kumar killed, his unpaid loan would be waived off. Not only that, he also gave Babar Rs 65,000 to make the arrangements. Babar then hired two young men from Deoband — Kartik Sharma and Nikhil Sharma — to act as shooters.
These three men planned the attacks carefully. They followed Jitendra Kumar to learn his routine and then tried to kill him twice. Luckily, both attempts failed. The police later arrested all three — Babar, Kartik, and Nikhil — and filed cases against them in both Meerut and Saharanpur. However, Manoj Kumar, the bank manager and the mastermind behind the plot, is still missing and is being searched by police.
The scam itself is huge. Investigations show that in just one year, about 40 to 50 loan files were approved in the bank’s Mangalpandenagar and Ghantaghar branches. Loans worth more than Rs 5 crore were issued through these files. When the head office in Chennai and the vigilance team reviewed the documents, they discovered that many of the loan applicants had submitted fake Aadhaar cards and false documents. The total scam is suspected to be worth over Rs 20 crore. The involvement of other bank employees is also being examined.
The vigilance team, especially officers Jitendra Kumar and Arvind Chaudhary, were sent from Chennai to investigate the fraud. They gathered solid evidence and were preparing to submit their report to the head office. But before the report could be submitted, Jitendra Kumar was targeted in an attempt to silence him. Thankfully, he survived. The police now believe that once Manoj Kumar is arrested, even more shocking facts about the scam and others involved may come out.
