Loan scam kingpin Bilal Lone arrested in Delhi, targeted CRPF officers

For years, Bilal Ahmad Lone, 33, has spun a web of deception, targeting those who dedicate their lives to the country’s paramilitary security agents stationed in sensitive areas of Jammu and Kashmir.

Armed with false promises of easy bank loans, Lone convinced these men to trust him, only to betray them with false documents and fake transactions. However, his efforts came to an end when the Delhi Police’s crime branch, in a carefully orchestrated operation, tracked him down on the busy streets of Jama Masjid on Saturday.

Police recovered from their possession seven ICICI Bank debit cards issued in the name of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, along with a Lenovo laptop used to create fake documents, a Realme phone used for communication, fake stamps, including those purportedly of J&K Bank and other official agencies and fake documents and check books belonging to different banks.

A ‘detention order’ was also issued against him by the Anantnag District Magistrate of Jammu and Kashmir in an order dated December 13 and the same was also approved by the Jammu and Kashmir government (Department of Home Affairs), Civil Secretariat, Jammu/Srinagar. on December 17. Lone, a native of Kupwara, Jammu and Kashmir, defrauded many officers through his schemes, exploiting them to obtain loans in their names before disappearing with the money.

He presented himself as a loan facilitator and preyed on paramilitary personnel who were either seeking to purchase vehicles or obtain personal loans. His fraudulent activities lasted for several years, with 14 cases of cheating registered against him in various police stations in Jammu and Kashmir.

The crime branch received information from Anantnag police in Jammu and Kashmir about Lone’s possible whereabouts in Delhi. “Based on technical surveillance and two days of hard work of the team, the location of the above criminal was found to be in Jama Masjid area, Delhi. Accordingly, on December 21, the above team laid a trap in and around the Jama Masjid area and launched an operation to trace it,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Vikram Singh.

After an intensive manhunt, the team finally managed to locate and apprehend him near Jama Masjid. “Initially, he resisted and tried to create a scene, but he was told about the operation and the detention order issued against him by the district magistrate of Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir.

Then he admitted that he was already aware of the proceedings initiated by the J&K authority and hence, he was absconding and hiding knowingly,” the DCP added.

Accordingly, the above accused has been arrested under the provisions of Section 35 (1) (b) (ii) (j) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023. Bilal Ahmad Lone is not not an ordinary crook.

Police said that Bilal was not an ordinary crook and had cheated a large number of people in Jammu and Kashmir by luring them on the pretext of getting them loan for purchasing vehicles. “It targeted paramilitary personnel posted in and around Jammu. Most of the victims of the cases against him are paramilitary leaders posted in J&K. Either he used to get loan in the name of paramilitary officers or he used to sell them the vehicles he had borrowed from the bank by preparing a fake No Objection Certificate (NOC) purported to be issued by the bank “, he said. » said a senior police officer.

“The information about his arrest has been forwarded to the concerned police station in Anantnag district, J&K. and teams of J&K Police are on their way to take custody of the accused,” the DCP said.