Crime

Padua Cooperative Society Manager fraud, Customer’s gold worth Rs 3.25 crore was deposited elsewhere

By Editor

Posted on July 1, 2025

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Padua Cooperative Society Manager fraud, Customer's gold worth Rs 3.25 crore was deposited elsewhere

Mangaluru : A society manager has taken a loan of crores of rupees by depositing several kilograms of gold ornaments deposited by customers in another society.

The fraud took place in the Padua Agricultural Service Cooperative Society in Shaktinagar, Mangaluru, and a case has been registered in this regard at the Kankanady Two police station.

The manager of the same society, Preetesh, has deposited six and a half kilograms of gold ornaments deposited by customers in different places. Due to his trust in the society, several customers had taken loans by depositing gold for their needs. In return for the six and a half kilograms of gold deposited by the customers, the society had given a loan of Rs 3.25 crore. Now, the gold deposited by the customers has gone missing, and the manager who stole it has taken out loans by pawning it in different societies through his close associates.

As soon as the society administration came to know about the gold snatching and fraud, the manager Pritesh fled abroad. Following this, customers started coming to the society office and started harassing them. Most of the people who lost their gold here are Christians. An FIR was registered on June 17, and in this context, the police registered a case and issued a lookout notice for the arrest of the main accused. Now, it has been learned that the main accused, Pritesh, has come from abroad and surrendered to the Mangaluru court, and he has been sent to jail.

Another person named Sheikh Mohammad, who assisted him in the fraudulent activity, has also been arrested. Police are on the lookout for two more individuals involved in the case.

After availing the Rs 3.5 crore loan using the genuine ornaments, Preethesh allegedly hatched a plan to deceive the original customers by replacing the gold with fake ornaments of identical design. For this purpose, around 3.5 kg of rolled gold ornaments were crafted. These fake items have been seized by the police from Sheikh Mohammad.