He called the CMD of a nationalised bank and said he was the Finance Minister’s son Rohan, and that his friend wanted a loan; the bank sanctioned the loan
A businessman claiming to be Union Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley’s son, Rohan, was caught after he fooled a bank into lending him and his friend money using Rohan’s name. The Property Cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch arrested the Juhu resident yesterday.
Police suspect that Japjeev Chadha may have fooled other banks and several individuals by using Rohan Jaitley’s name
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According to the police, the accused, identified as Japjeev Chadha (28), is a businessman who deals with import and export of ceramic items, and has been using Rohan Jaitley’s name for a while to gain favours. “He and his friend decided to start a business in the ceramic industry and they realised that banks were not giving them enough sums in loan.
So, he called the Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of a nationalised bank and told him he was the son of Arun Jaitley. Saying his friend needed a loan, Chadha asked the CMD to increase the loan credit approved for his friend and sent him to meet the bank official,” said Dhananjay Kulkarni, deputy commissioner of police, Mumbai Crime Branch. This incident happened more than a month ago.
Thinking that it was actually the friend of the finance minister’s son, the CMD sanctioned the loan amount worth crores and dispatched an official letter to the minister’s residence in Delhi, thanking the minister for transacting with the bank and telling him that his ‘request’ had been adhered to.
When the Jaitleys realised someone was misusing their name for fraudulent gains, they told the bank to register a complaint against the culprit, said a Crime Branch officer. Many complaints had started piling up against the person using Rohan Jaitley’s name, the officer added.
Playing the part
Besides cheating the bank, Chadha had also run up a tab in several upscale pubs in Mumbai and Goa, using Rohan’s name. Police learnt that Chadha had gone to the extent of using Rohan Jaitley’s profile picture on his WhatsApp profile, and writing ‘Get well soon, dad’ on the profile status, alluding to the minister’s ill health that had made news recently.
He had also stored his phone number under Rohan’s name in the directory of Truecaller, a popular app that shows whom a number belongs to. “So, if anybody even tried checking the number belonging to Rohan Jaitley, Chadha’s number would flash,” Kulkarni explained.
Chadha has been booked under sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), 34 (common intention) and relevant sections of the IT Act. He has been remanded in police custody till October 9; his friend is still absconding.
Police suspect Chadha has cheated other banks and several other individuals using Rohan’s name. The finance minister’s son, the actual Rohan Jaitley, is currently studying in Cornell University, USA.
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