Mangaluru: Mangaluru city police have arrested two on Tuesday who allegedly pledged fake gold jewelry and obtained loan worth Rs 4.5 crore from Catholic Syrian Bank located in the city.

The accused have been identified as Bondel residents, couple, Vidyananda Rao (59) and his wife Lalitha Rao (52).

Vidyanand Rao, owns jewellery shop in the city and has knowledge on gold ornaments, gold plating and many others. Rao reportedly pledged fake ornaments for 38 times to obtain cash where as his wife Lalitha Rao did the same for 9 times.

The accused, Vidyananda Rao coated gold to bronze ornaments, sheets and others to pledge the same in the bank. The officials at the bank have also failed to recognise the purity of the yellow metal pledged for cash. However, the bank officials on a suspicion checked the all valuables pledged by the customers and found fake jewelry pledged.

Subsequently, the officers registered a complaint on July 25 at Bandar police station and based on the information the police arrested the duo. A case stands registered at Bandar police on the incident and investigation is in progress.