An auto driver in Kanpur allegedly discovered that an ₹80 lakh bank loan had been taken in his name only after he received a recovery notice, exposing what police suspect could be part of a wider network using other people’s documents to create bogus firms and obtain loans.
Three people have been arrested in the case. Police are also examining the role of banking officials and others allegedly involved in opening the firm, completing verification and processing the loan.
The complainant, Shivam Shukla of Vinayakpur Panchvati, says the fraud began after he met men who claimed they could arrange government-backed finance and employment.
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Job and loan promise allegedly gave accused access to documents
According to Shukla’s complaint, he met Rahul Ojha, Gyanendra Vishwakarma and another man in September 2024.
The men allegedly introduced themselves as chartered accountants. Rahul later offered Shukla work at an office in Lakhanpur for a monthly salary of ₹12,000 and promised to help him establish a rice mill with financial assistance under a government scheme.
Shukla was allegedly asked to provide Aadhaar and other documents after being told that a loan of around ₹10 lakh could be arranged.
The accused then allegedly encouraged him to bring other people seeking loans, offering ₹20,000 commission for each successful file.
Shukla says he eventually helped provide documents or open accounts for around 10 people, without realising how those identities could later be used.
Police allege that a bogus company, Shivam Traders, was subsequently registered in his name.
Mother who died in 2019 allegedly shown alive
One of the most serious allegations concerns the documentation used to support the loan.
Shukla’s mother, Santosh Kumari, had died in 2019. Yet investigators say forged signatures and documents were allegedly used to show her as alive while preparing records connected with the firm and property.
The loan process also allegedly relied on machinery quotations and other documents used to establish that a genuine business was being created.
Police say an ₹80 lakh loan was eventually sanctioned through Indian Bank.
Shukla claims he had no knowledge that such a large loan had been disbursed.
He allegedly discovered it only after repayments stopped for several months and the bank sent him a notice.
Instead of the ₹10 lakh funding opportunity he believed was being arranged, he was now being treated as the borrower of ₹80 lakh.
Bank verification process now under police scrutiny
The case raises an obvious question: how could an ₹80 lakh business loan be sanctioned if the borrower says he did not genuinely create or control the business?
Police are examining the role of people involved at the banking stage.
The verified report names Kumar Pawan, then manager of Indian Bank’s Kalyanpur branch, and says investigators attempted to trace him after questioning the arrested accused. Police were told he had moved to the Govind Nagar branch, but he allegedly left before officers reached the location.
The complaint also refers to involvement of senior banking personnel and other officials, although their individual roles have not yet been established by a court.
That distinction is important.
A loan passing through a bank does not itself establish that bank employees knowingly participated in fraud. Investigators will need to examine who completed KYC, who verified the business and collateral, who approved the loan and whether warning signs were deliberately ignored.
₹250 crore figure points to possible wider network, not this one loan
The most dramatic number associated with the investigation is ₹250 crore.
That should be treated cautiously.
Police suspect the people involved may have used similar methods with other identities and firms, but the ₹80 lakh loan is the specific amount directly alleged in Shukla’s case.
There is, however, a striking precedent in Kanpur.
In March, police uncovered a separate racket in which fraudsters allegedly collected Aadhaar, PAN and signed documents from e-rickshaw drivers, students and other financially vulnerable people by promising easy loans. Those documents were allegedly used to register 38 bogus firms and route transactions approaching ₹250 crore as part of a GST fraud network.
That earlier case is separate from Shukla’s complaint, and police have not publicly established that both operations were run by the same group.
But the method is similar enough to explain why investigators are now looking beyond one ₹80 lakh loan.
Identity theft can turn a victim into a borrower on paper
The case also illustrates a dangerous form of identity fraud.
A victim may hand over Aadhaar, PAN, photographs and signed forms believing they are being used for a legitimate job or loan application.
Those same documents can potentially be reused to create firms, open accounts or prepare financing paperwork.
Once a loan is formally attached to that identity, the victim may discover the fraud only when repayment notices, tax demands or legal correspondence begin arriving.
Police are now examining bank records, GST registration documents, transaction trails and other identities allegedly supplied to the accused.
The investigation will also need to establish where the ₹80 lakh went after disbursement and who ultimately benefited from it.
What this means for you: Do not hand over Aadhaar, PAN, signed blank forms or OTP access simply because someone promises a government loan or job. If you have already shared documents with an unknown intermediary, periodically check your credit report, GST registrations and bank activity for accounts or loans you do not recognise.
The420 Insight: The most alarming part of this case is not just the ₹80 lakh loan. It is the possibility that a complete financial identity — company, GST registration, collateral and borrower profile — was allegedly constructed around a man who says he never knew the business existed.
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