A massive loan fraud scam worth Rs5.5 crore has rocked two branches of the State Bank of India (SBI) in Dahod, leading to the arrest of 18 individuals, including two former bank managers.
On Thursday, five key accused were produced in court. Gurmeet Singh Bedi, the former manager of SBI’s Dahod main branch, was remanded to five days of police custody, while Manish Gavali, former manager of the Station Road Branch, was remanded to two days.
Also remanded for five days were Rajesh Machhar, Bharat Parghi, and Subhash Taviad, who fraudulently obtained loans from the Station Road branch by submitting forged payslips claiming they were government teachers. A bank investigation revealed they had never been employed as such.
The fraud came to light after a bank audit exposed 19 suspicious loans at the main branch. Seventeen of these were secured with forged pay slips, falsely inflating the applicants’ salaries as government employees.
Other instances of fraud include:
A borrower who submitted a fake invoice for building materials never purchased.
Another man who secured a loan to build a four-storey house, but constructed only two floors.
The Station Road branch also approved 10 fraudulent loans, based on fake salary slips. Three claimed to be state transport bus drivers, while seven claimed to be primary school teachers—none of them held those positions.
In total, 13 additional arrests were made on Thursday, including 11 bogus borrowers and 2 middlemen involved in arranging the fraud. Police have registered two cases—one at each SBI branch.
Authorities continue their investigation to determine the full extent of the scam and whether any internal staff enabled it beyond the arrested managers.
