The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) has arrested Satnam Singh and Sarabjit Singh Numberdar, both residents of Sarupwal village in Sultanpur Lodhi tehsil, for their involvement in a multi-crore scam at the State Bank of Patiala (now State Bank of India), Sultanpur Lodhi branch, district Kapurthala. The accused, in connivance with bank officials, private individuals, and officers/employees of the state Revenue Department, embezzled crores of rupees through fraudulent means.
Providing details, a VB spokesperson stated that, based on an investigation into a vigilance enquiry registered seven years ago, an FIR No. 5, dated 09-03-2017 was lodged at the Vigilance Bureau Range Jalandhar police station under Sections 409, 420, 467, 468, 471, and 120-B of the IPC, along with Sections 13(1) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The investigation revealed that the accused, in collusion with the branch manager and other bank employees, as well as revenue officials, fraudulently obtained loans and credit limits, siphoning money from the treasury. The inquiry established that approximately Rs 3.71 crore had been misappropriated through 14 loan files as of April 30, 2016.
Explaining the modus operandi, the spokesperson added that the accused secured bank loans using fictitious identities and fraudulent land records. They obtained incomplete field reports and forged guarantor deeds in collaboration with private individuals and revenue officials.
Despite the fact that the purported borrowers were not the actual owners of the land, which in reality belonged to the Punjab Government, the land was falsely shown as privately owned. Revenue officials facilitated this fraud by issuing falsified fards, fard-girdawaris, and free-of-encumbrance certificates.
Satnam Singh Sarupwala provided forged Fard Jamabandi, Fard Haqiyat, Fard Girdawari, and a mortgage certificate to secure an agricultural loan from Sulinder Singh, the then-manager of the State Bank of Patiala, Sultanpur Lodhi branch. Based on these fabricated documents, the bank manager, in collusion with other accused bank employees, including Field Officer Surinder Pal and panel lawyer Tara Chand, prepared false reports to approve a loan in Satnam Singh’s name for his personal benefit.
Consequently, the bank manager sanctioned a Rs 16 lakh loan, despite revenue records proving that the Jamabandi of Lohian village did not match official records. The Khewat-Khatoni and Khasra numbers mentioned in the loan documents were also absent from revenue records. Furthermore, no official entry regarding this loan was recorded in the Roznamcha (daily revenue journal).
Similarly, upon verifying the mortgage deed, it was discovered that the bank manager, in collusion with Satnam Singh and others, had fraudulently affixed a fake registration number of the Joint Sub-Registrar, Lohian, on the deed. Sarabjit Singh Numberdar of Sarupwala had provided false testimony regarding this forged document.
It is noteworthy that this case was registered against 33 individuals based on the vigilance inquiry. So far, 28 accused have been arrested, while three have been declared absconders by the court. The Vigilance Bureau is actively working to apprehend the remaining accused.
The arrested accused Satnam Singh and Sarabjit Singh would be produced in court tomorrow, and further investigation was underway, he added.