The Economic Offences Branch of the CBI has booked a landlord, a builder, two bank valuers, two buyers, and others for cheating the State Bank of India (SBI) of Rs5.5 crore by securing two housing loans on the same property.
Siblings S Vakisan and S Deivanai from Puducherry had applied for a Rs5 crore housing loan in 2020 from the SBI branch in Iyyapanthangal to buy a villa situated on a 4,520 sq ft plot with a super built-up area of 5,500 sq ft in Tiruporur along ECR.
Bank-appointed valuers M Vijayakumar and M S Senthil submitted valuation reports claiming the property was worth Rs6.3 crore, prompting SBI to sanction a loan of Rs4.26 crore. The siblings paid monthly instalments until April 2021, after which, citing Covid-19 hardships, they were granted an extension till July 2023.
However, an audit revealed the villa was not new—it was built in 2016—and that SBI had already disbursed a housing loan on the same property to the builder D Santhosh. The audit also exposed discrepancies in plot approval and regularisation dates.
The property’s true market value was estimated at Rs3.5 crore, far below the loan amount disbursed. The bank suspected landowner Vummidi Kritsh’s involvement and filed a complaint with the CBI.
Following the complaint, the Madras High Court directed the CBI to register a formal case against all involved suspects for further investigation.
