A man who police said is a state government employee was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly submitting fake documents to obtain a personal loan from a finance company in Salt Lake.
According to officers of Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate, the accused, Tapas De, who is employed in the department of planning, statistics, and programme monitoring of the state government, had applied for a personal loan of ₹6,50,341 in November 2021.
Although the loan was sanctioned after verification by officials of the finance company, it was later discovered that De had superimposed his photograph onto other persons’ PAN cards and Aadhaar cards.
“It was found that the accused had manipulated the PAN, Aaadhar, and other identity documents of different individuals by replacing their photographs with his own, thereby committing fraud and forgery to obtain the loan,” said an officer of the Electronic Complex police station in Bidhannagar, where the complaint was lodged.
He has been charged under sections of cheating and forgery.
The police said they were investigating whether De, a resident of Haltu in Kasba, had secured more loans with the forged documents.
According to the police, ideally, finance companies should verify the veracity of the documents submitted by a loan applicant before sanctioning it.