The Mumbai crime branch on Sunday arrested six people for allegedly duping a bank of Rs 30.9 lakh by mortgaging fake gold ornaments for loans. The accused, according to the police, have cheated close to 30 branches of different banks in the city by availing gold loans worth over Rs 2 crore.

The scam came to light when Kotak Mahindra Bank held an auction in March to recover the loan given to the accused. Siddhanath Jewellers purchased three pendants at the auction and paid Rs 1,64,996 for about 40 gms of gold, Sunil Bajare, Senior Inspector, Property Cell, told mid-day. The jeweller later discovered that the ornaments had only 23 grams of gold, he added. The firm contacted other bidders and learnt that even they have received fake ornaments, which amounted to Rs 29,34,996.