Jhalawar moneylending racket busted: 144 vehicles, 308 farm machines, Rs 5 cr in blank stamps seized in Jhalawar
Sunil Goyal allegedly got blank signed cheques and stamp papers from borrowers, then filled in inflated amounts.
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Jaipur: Police in Jhalawar district have busted an organised illegal moneylending network operating out of Dag town, seizing 144 vehicles, 308 pieces of agricultural machinery and a large cache of blank signed cheques, stamp papers and property documents from premises linked to alleged interest mafia operator Sunil Goyal.
The action was led by Dag police station under the direction of Superintendent of Police Jhalawar Amit Kumar, after Constable Vinod Kumar — the station’s intelligence officer — passed on information that a large illegal moneylending racket was active in the town and was allegedly blackmailing villagers who borrowed at high interest rates.
A team led by station house officer Bhanwar Singh searched Sunil Goyal’s house, a newly built godown and an agricultural farm in Azad Colony.
The 144 vehicles recovered include 70 tractors, 61 motorcycles, seven cars, three pickups, one truck and two tempos. Among the 308 agricultural implements and machines were 107 thresher machines, 29 trolleys, 89 cultivator pliers, 54 seed drills, nine garlic seed drills, nine rotavators, three well-digging machines, two wheat-cutting machines, five chaff-cutting machines and one chilli-spice grinding unit.
Police also seized 47 blank signed stamp papers with an aggregate face value of Rs 5.01 crore, 147 signed blank bank cheques, 60 other blank cheques, 39 house leases, nine vehicle registration certificates, three rental agreement stamps, four general agreements and four land registration documents.
Investigators said the accused allegedly advanced loans to villagers in distress after first getting them to sign blank cheques and stamp papers, then filled in arbitrary amounts and used the threat of legal action to harass and extract more money. Bank-financed vehicles were allegedly hidden inside his enclosure to keep banks and recovery agents away from them.
A panchnama of all recovered items has been prepared and a case registered at Dag police station. Given the scale of the case, the investigation has been handed to Circle Officer Gangdhar Hemant Gautam. Personnel from Dag, Gangdhar, Pagariya and Unhel police stations along with the District Special Team and Cyber Team participated in the raid. SP Amit Kumar said the campaign against illegal moneylending and economic exploitation in the district would continue, and urged any victim of such illegal lending or coercion to inform the police immediately.
