According to the police, Pavithra N, manager of the Odiyoor Sri Vividhoddesha Souharda Sahakari Sangha’s Puttur branch, lodged the complaint after discovering the fraud.

On October 4, Abdul Rameez approached the society with gold jewellery — a 17.1-gram bracelet and two chains weighing 34.39 grams, totaling 51 grams. The ornaments were tested and verified as genuine by the society’s gold appraiser, Subhash Rai.

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Based on this verification, a loan of Rs 4.5 lac was sanctioned, with Rs 1.99 lac disbursed in cash and Rs 2.51 lac credited to Rameez’s account at the Bank of Maharashtra, Puttur branch.

A few days later, on October 8, Rameez returned with additional jewellery — a 52.87-gram anklet adorned with stones and a 15.3-gram chain, together weighing 53.17 grams. These too were examined by the appraiser and declared genuine, leading to another loan of Rs 4.75 lac being approved. This sum was split into Rs 1.99 lac in cash and Rs 2.67 lac transferred to his bank account.

In total, Rameez pledged 104.17 grams of gold jewellery and secured loans amounting to Rs 9.25 lac from the cooperative society.

Suspicion arose on October 13 when Pavithra read a newspaper report alleging that Rameez and others had pledged fake gold at another cooperative society. Acting on the report, she sought and obtained permission from the society’s CEO to have the pledged ornaments sent to the Mangaluru Testing Centre for verification.

“The test results confirmed that the gold ornaments were fake,” Pavithra said. “We felt betrayed and immediately reported the matter to the police.”

Following the complaint, the Puttur Town police registered a case under Sections 318(4) and 316(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.

Investigations are ongoing to ascertain the full extent of the fraud and identify any accomplices.

This incident highlights the growing need for stringent verification procedures in financial institutions to prevent similar scams and protect public funds.