New Delhi, June 18 (IANS): The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to release on bail a person accused of defrauding the Bank of Baroda of over Rs 2.50 crore by availing auto loans based on fictitious customer applications.

A vacation bench of Justices Vikram Nath and S.V.N. Bhatti declined to interfere with the judgement of the Delhi High Court denying bail to accused Azhar Khan.

In its decision, the high court noted that the accused had not only defrauded the bank by not only impersonation but had also created forged and fabricated documents in the names of fictitious persons for taking loans.

"Two of the co-accused are absconding, while one has jumped the interim bail granted to him by this court. These three co-accused have been declared as Proclaimed Offenders. Though the applicant has been in custody for the last two years and six months…no case for releasing him on bail for the present is made out,” said a bench of Justice Navin Chawla in its judgment passed on February 5.

The bank, in its internal inquiry, found that all the addresses of offices and residences provided by the accused men were fake. It was also alleged that the accused had opened an account with another bank in the name of KVS Automobiles Pvt Ltd to receive the loan amount. However, it was found to be bogus as there was no such company or showroom at the given address. After receiving the loan amount, the accused did not purchase any car and instead, withdrew all the money through ATMs or got them transferred into other accounts.

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