Nagpur: In a major breakthrough in the ₹23 crore fake gold loan scam, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Nagpur Police has arrested an ICICI Bank branch manager and a bank-appointed gold valuer for their alleged role in facilitating fraudulent loans against counterfeit gold ornaments.
The arrested accused have been identified as Pankaj Kekatpure, Branch Manager of ICICI Bank, and Nandu Kharwade, the bank-appointed gold valuer.
The scam came to light during a routine audit at ICICI Bank’s Manish Nagar branch, where several gold ornaments pledged as collateral were found to be counterfeit. The discovery prompted the bank to conduct a detailed audit of gold loan accounts across its Nagpur branches.
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Investigators found that 159 gold loan accounts across nine ICICI Bank branches were allegedly used to secure loans worth more than ₹23 crore between January 2023 and October 2025 using fake gold ornaments, causing significant financial losses to the bank.
According to the police, the fraud was allegedly carried out with the involvement of bank officials, valuers, auditors, and multiple account holders. Fake ornaments were reportedly certified as genuine during the valuation process, enabling borrowers to obtain gold loans they were not entitled to.
The FIR also names account holder Sachin Raut, auditors Rajendra Shilankar, Pramod Tete, Dhananjay Dhomne, and around 152 other account holders suspected of being part of the conspiracy.
Earlier, auditors Rajendra Shilankar and Pramod Tete had already been arrested. With the latest action, the total number of arrests in the case has risen to four.
The case was registered at Dhantoli Police Station based on a complaint filed by Dhananjay Ramesh Thite (49), Zonal Head of ICICI Bank’s Nagpur Zone. The investigation is currently being carried out by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW).
