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Loan scam unearthed
300 farmers duped by coop society secy
Our Correspondent Nangal (Ropar), April 30
Mohinder Kaur, a poor resident of Bhalri village, near Nangal, took a short-term loan of Rs 10,000 from the Bhalri Koa Agri Service Society of which she is a member, about a year ago. She kept depositing the loan instalments with the secretary of the society. Her passbook now showns that she has paid back the loan and her debt towards the society is nil. However, she was shocked when recently she received a notice regarding non-payment of the loan. Sarwan Singh, an illiterate small farmer of the same village, lost his mental balance and tried to commit suicide when he came to know that the signatures on a cheque he gave in good faith to the society secretary had been misused. He now owes Rs 18,000 to the local cooperative bank. Similar is the story of about 300 members of the society, who have been allegedly duped by the former secretary. The modus operandi of the secretary was simple. He used to motivate members, generally poor and illiterate farmers, for taking short-term loans from Ropar Central Cooperative Bank through the society. As per the norms, people used to deposit the instalments of repayment of loans with the secretary, who was supposed to enter the amount in their passbooks and further deposit it in the bank. However, the secretary, instead of depositing the money in the bank, used to keep it with himself. | |
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