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The Crime Investigation Department (CID) of Telangana has arrested a former business agent of IDBI Bank for his alleged role in a ₹2.86 crore loan fraud. The accused, Chettipogu Suresh, was taken into custody from Bhadradri in the Kothagudem district on Thursday.
Suresh is believed to have planned the scam along with Nallagopula Ramesh, a former branch manager at IDBI Bank’s Sathupally branch in Khammam district, and two others — Thati Chandra Rao and Merugu Shiva Krishna.
How the scam happened
According to a complaint filed by P.H. Hashim, who is the Deputy General Manager and Regional Head at IDBI Bank, the fraud took place between March 2015 and September 2016.
During this time, the accused approved loans worth ₹2.61 crore under the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme to 279 people and another ₹25 lakh under the Micro Loans Scheme to 26 people.
The scam went unnoticed for several years and only came to light during an internal bank audit for the 2018-19 financial year. The audit raised red flags about irregular loan documents and suspicious transactions between Suresh and Ramesh. Click here to Read more fraud cases
Forged documents used to cheat the bank
After the audit, revenue officials verified the documents and discovered that many of the pattadar passbooks (land ownership records) used for the loan applications were fake. These fake documents did not match the official government land records.
Suresh and his group reportedly helped borrowers get loans by submitting forged revenue documents. The bank’s verification rules were ignored, and some branch officials also broke procedures, allowing the scam to continue without detection.
This incident highlights the importance of strict checks and audits in banks, especially when dealing with schemes like Kisan Credit Cards and micro loans that are meant to help small farmers and individuals. Such scams not only cause financial losses to banks but also affect the credibility of government-backed loan schemes.
