On Tuesday, officials reported that eight individuals were apprehended at Jewar toll plaza in Gautam Budh Nagar for their involvement in setting up fraudulent companies, fabricating employees, and defrauding banks of ₹23 crore in Noida. The suspects were found in possession of 93 Aadhaar cards, 518 cheque books, 327 ATM cards, 278 PAN cards, and 187 mobile phones.
Assistant Commissioner of Police-1, Noida, Rajneesh Verma, stated that the investigation was initiated following a complaint lodged by Prashant Khurana, Deputy Vice President of Credit Intelligence and Control at HDFC Bank, at Noida’s Phase-1 police station. Khurana alleged that six registered companies in Noida had borrowed funds from the bank but failed to repay them. Bank officials suspected that these companies were fictitious.
Upon Khurana’s complaint, an investigation was launched, which revealed that all six companies had been registered using fraudulent identity cards. Authorities registered an FIR against the companies for causing financial loss to the bank through the creation of counterfeit documents for illicit monetary gain and the fraudulent establishment of identities, under sections of cheating, fraud, and forgery of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
“Through electronic surveillance and policing, we arrested the eight suspects at Jewar toll plaza on Monday. During questioning, they disclosed that they operated from a rented flat in Noida Sector 119,” explained Verma.
The arrested individuals have been identified as Anurag Chatkara, Aman Sharma, Danish Chhibber, Wasim Ahmed, Mohsin, Jeetu alias Jitendra, Ravikant Mishra, and Tanuj Sharma, all residing in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Noida, Harish Chander, revealed that the suspects obtained biometric data from homeless individuals to fabricate fake Aadhaar cards, registering their personal mobile numbers for verification. “The suspects created Aadhaar cards using false names and used their own phone numbers for verification. They also produced counterfeit PAN cards using these fraudulent Aadhaar cards. Using these documents, the suspects established a fictitious company and registered it with the Registrar of Companies. Subsequently, they opened salary accounts in various banks under the company’s name,” explained the DCP.
He further elaborated that the counterfeit IDs were presented to the bank as proof of employees, allowing the suspects to open salary accounts.
“For the first six months, the suspects deposited money into the salary accounts and subsequently withdrew the same amount from ATMs. Every month, they deposited the same sum into these salary accounts to simulate salary disbursement. After six months, these ‘account holders’ became eligible for loans. They would then finance cars, mobile phones, and other assets after applying for loans,” detailed the officer, noting that the suspects began their operations around August 2020.
The suspects never repaid the loan amounts to the bank since the account holders’ names and addresses were fraudulent, making it difficult for the bank to trace them. The suspects, through one of the companies they established called GHCL, created employee accounts in the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) and periodically deposited money into the EPFO accounts to lend legitimacy to the company. The banks did not raise any suspicions regarding the loan disbursals.
ACP Verma stated that the joint investigation carried out by the Gautam Budh Nagar police and the Noida unit of the Special Task Force revealed that the suspects had obtained loans amounting to ₹23 crore from various banks in Noida. “They borrowed ₹10 crore from the bank mentioned in the complaint and ₹13 crore from other banks. We have also discovered ₹80 lakh in the suspects’ bank accounts, which has been frozen,” added