Gopalganj: Taking advantage of the loopholes in the system, some fraudsters with active support of some transport department officials are perpetrating vehicle loan frauds in Gopalganj district, a part of the Saran Division of Bihar state. The modus operandi of these gangsters is pretty simple. They get bank loans for vehicles by producing forged and fake documents in different names. These vehicles are then used for some time before being sold into remote parts of adjoining Uttar Pradesh, which are difficult to recover or track. Ironically, these miscreants also lodge complaints of theft or loot of their vehicles in Gopalganj police station after selling the vehicles.

The district police SP, has said that police is aware the operations of such a racket involving vehicle loan fraud in the district and is pursuing the matter seriously.

The gangsters don't hesitate to use legal means to get their complaints registered. As reported in one case, Kailash Bhagat, who is believed to be a part of the gang, was refused by the police to register his FIR, approached the CJM court, filed a case and got orders directing the concerned police station to lodge a case. On asked about what actions the police is taking against such miscreants, the SP said that police investigates the matter and files prosecution report in the court, and if the case is baseless then its the courts who take action against such people.

A nexus between musclemen, politicians, brokers and bank officials has been a regular feature in any such loan fraud especially in rural parts of the country. In a recent incident in Jalaun, Uttar Pradesh, forged documents and fake identities were created by brokers and bank officials to take loans and later loan recovery was enforced on a poor labourer, who helplessly committed suicide.

Sub prime crisis and bad loans are a result of a lack of proper screening mechanism when a person approaches a bank for a loan. Large default in sub-prime personal loans has forced the major banks to realign their scrutiny process and enforce more rigorous checks before giving loans especially small ticket personal loans. However, when the bank officials themselves are a part of any such racket, the situation becomes really serious.