A big gold loan fraud has come to light at the Canara Bank branch in Civil Lines, Prayagraj. An investigation has revealed that several people took loans worth lakhs of rupees by submitting fake gold. According to the case, irregularities have been found in 18 gold loan accounts, of which 16 people took out loans totaling ₹57,19,800 using fake gold. Over time, the value of this amount has increased to ₹64,01,990.
Pankaj Verma, Assistant General Manager and Regional Head of Canara Bank, filed an FIR at the Civil Lines police station regarding this entire incident. Although the FIR was filed in July 2025, the police registered the case on April 10, 2026, after an investigation.
The loans were approved based on the report of the gold appraiser, Vishnu Sharma. Later, when another gold appraiser, Kaushal Kishore Verma, conducted an investigation, suspicions deepened. Upon the bank’s instructions, a second examination was conducted by Sudhanshu Verma on July 3, 2025, and by Shivkumar Verma on July 15, 2025, in which the pledged gold was found to be fake.
The revelation of the case caused panic among bank officials. A case was subsequently filed at the Civil Lines police station against 16 named and other unidentified individuals. Police have registered the fraud case and started an investigation.
How gold loan is sanctioned at Bank?
When a customer approaches a bank for a gold loan, the bank calls a goldsmith to conduct the valuation and purity of the gold. On the basis of the value of Gold, the bank sanctions gold loan up to 80% of the value. So, the role of goldsmith is very important in identifying the purity of Gold. If the goldsmith cheats, then the gold scam is inevitable.
Recently, a lot of gold loan scams have been reported in Banks in India. There is an urgent need for Banks to find a solution for this.
