A 28-year-old youth has been arrested for allegedly attempting to seek a loan of Rs seven crore from a leading government-owned bank here posing himself as a close friend of Union Minister Arun Jaitley's son, police said today.
The accused Japjeev Sigh Chaddha, a resident of suburban Santacruz, was arrested yesterday under IPC sections 419 (punishment for cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating), Nandkumar Gopale, Inspector with Crime Branch (Property Cell) said today.
"Chaddha was produced before a court, which remanded him in police custody till Thursday," Gopale added.
An FIR with regards to the case was filed at Marine Drive police station yesterday by a Chief Legal Officer deputed at Union Bank of India's headquarters in south Mumbai and the accused was held on the same day, police said.
According to police, in August this year the bank personnel had received a phone call from a person, who claimed to be the son of Jaitley and sought a favour to extend credit limit on loan and lend Rs seven crore to a Mumbai-based company being operated by his friend.
The credit limit refers to the amount of credit that a financial institution extends to a client.
The calls were initially made at the bank's landline numbers, but later the caller established communication with a senior official of the bank on his mobile phone and asked him for the favour.
The mobile number, which was used for calling the bank authorities, was registered on WhatsApp messaging application, which had as its profile picture a photo of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and his son Rohan together. The status message on WhatsApp read "Get Well Soon Dad", police said.
The phone number was also registered in the name of Rohan Jaitley in the Truecaller, the world's largest verified mobile phone community, in a bid to hoodwink the bank.
"The caller told the bank authorities that Chaddha, who is his friend and partner in a Mumbai-based company, which has an account in the bank, would approach them," Gopale said.
