Sixteen other suspects involved in the fraud have been identified (Representational)
Four people including a man and his daughter have been arrested in Mathura for allegedly borrowing Rs 2.8 crore from two banks mortgaging fake gold jewellery, police on Friday said.
The swindle was unravelled during the quarterly audit by the banks.
According to police, the accused pulled off the fraud colluding with an employee of the bank's authorised jeweller, and procuring from him a false certificate authenticating as real the fake gold jewellery.
Sixteen other suspects involved in the fraud have been identified and efforts are on to arrest them, said police.
"The gang was able to secure loans from two nationalised banks in Mathura by mortgaging fake gold jewellery. They submitted certificates which showed that the jewellery was real," Mathura Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gaurav Grover said.
"We have arrested Rajesh Agarwal, the mastermind, and his daughter Shreya Agarwal, along with one Suhail, and Dharmendra Soni, the servant at bank authorised jewellery shop." Rajesh Agarwal, a jeweller himself, had forged the fake gold in his own shop, he said.
The accused borrowed Rs 1.45 cr from one bank and Rs 1.35 cr from another bank in Mathura using the same trick.