Aizawl: With the arrest of three more persons recently, a total of 15 people have so far been arrested by Mizoram police for defrauding Rs. 150 crore from Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Service Limited (MMFSL) in Aizawl, police said.
Three car dealers identified as George S. Thoite of Rafael Nissan, Madhurjya Sharma of Aidu Motors (Renault) and Paul Zothanpuia of National Business Enterprise (TATA) were arrested on Thursday for allegedly being involved in the financial scam, they said.
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The financial fraud involving Rs. 150 crore with MMFSL was exposed recently by the Mizoram police during an investigation based on complaints submitted by the company on March 20 and March 29.
Between March 29 and April 3, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted to probe the case, has arrested 11 persons, including Jakir Hussain (40), the mastermind in the fraud. One more person was arrested by the SIT on May 9.
Hussain and the other accused created a fake bank account in the name of Mahindra and sanctioned fake loans by forging documents to 2,000 ghost or non-existence customers. They have been operating the scam since 2020.
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Hussain and his accomplices never delivered the cars to fictitious customers but sold them to other individuals at discounted prices.
They also used the bank account opened at Khatla branch of Mizoram Rural Bank to receive payment from five car dealers.
Mizoram police have so far recovered 15 new cars worth Rs. 3 crore three laptops, 10 mobile phones, 549 ghost customers’ files, 25 forged seals, 30 SIM cards, two personal diaries, and various other documents from the accused.
They have also frozen 26 bank accounts amounting to about Rs. 2.5 crores and also the accounts of car dealers worth Rs. 1 crore.