Rajkot: The Porbandar police unearthed an elaborate bike loan scam after arresting an executive of a Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) who allegedly defrauded at least 66 people wanting to purchase new two-wheelers.The total reported fraud was estimated to be around Rs 38 lakh.The accused, identified as Dhaval Khudai, an executive with a prominent NBFC specialising in two-wheeler and personal loans, was arrested after clinching documentary evidence was gathered.The investigation was initiated after a complaint was registered against him under BNS sections 318(4), 338, and 340(2) at the Ranavav police station. Khudai was also posted at a two-wheeler showroom in Ranavav as part of his job.Police inspector NN Talaviya of Ranavav said: “Khudai lured customers by offering bikes at exceptionally low prices, significantly below the market rate. For instance, he would offer a bike with a market price of Rs 95,000 for Rs 75,000 in cash. He collected the full cash amount from the customer and, without their knowledge, processed a two-wheeler loan in their name.”The accused used a fraction of the collected cash to pay the down payment and a couple of initial instalments on the fraudulent loan. To finalise the loan application, he tricked customers into sharing their OTPs, claiming it was for the bike registration process. If a customer received a loan-related message from the bank, Khudai assured them it was a system error. Those happy with their new bike and the perceived discount, often dismissed the bank’s messages,” said police.The scam came to light 2 to 3 months later when victims began receiving calls from the bank demanding loan repayment.Bike exchange scam.Prakash Dhandhas, the complainant in the case, was lured into a scheme to exchange his 2024 model, financed bike. Khudai promised to get a new bike on the payment of two extra instalments of Dhandhas’s existing loan plus Rs 10,000 extra for the exchange, assuring him no new loan would be taken. Dhandhas received a new bike but later discovered he was liable for an Rs 80,000 loan on the new vehicle, and his old bike’s loan was not repaid.“Khudai created a fake No-Objection Certificate (NOC) of the finance company, falsely showing the old loan as repaid, and then sold the old vehicle to a used vehicles’ broker,” added Talaviya.Khudai defrauded approximately 66 people in the last four months alone. The police have the details of all victims included in the FIR and urged anyone else who may have been a victim of this scam to come forward.
