Nagpur: The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of city crime branch has registered a fraud case involving mortgaging fake gold ornaments after a major private sector bank was allegedly cheated of over Rs23 crore through nine of its branches in the city.The zonal head of the bank filed a complaint following which an FIR was registered on March 30. The police complaint stated that between January 2023 and Oct 2025, the accused, in collusion with others, mortgaged fake gold ornaments in nine different branches of the bank to secure loans. Police stated the accused allegedly used forged documents and manipulated valuation reports to obtain loans against the fake gold. The total number of fraudulent loan accounts involved is 159, spread across nine branches.Police have named Sachin Rout, an account holder of the bank, as the prime accused. Others named in the FIR include valuer Nandu Kharwade, first auditor Rajendra Shilankar, Pramod Tete, Dhananjay Dhomne, Pankaj Kekatpure and several unidentified persons.The scam came to light during internal audits when discrepancies in gold quality and documentation surfaced. The accused breached the trust of the bank by presenting fake gold ornaments and forged papers, causing huge financial loss, the complaint states. The FIR has been registered at Dhantoli police station under IPC Sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant or banker), 468 (forgery for cheating), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention).Senior police officers confirmed that the case has been transferred to the special EOW team for a thorough probe. “We are examining bank records, CCTV footage from branches, valuation reports and transaction details. Raids are being planned to trace the accused and recover the money,” an official stated. No arrests have been made so far, police officers said.This is the latest in a series of economic offences being probed by Nagpur police. With gold prices soaring, such scams have become increasingly sophisticated, causing losses running into crores.
