PRAYAGRAJ, April 12 -- The regional head and assistant general manager of Canara Bank's MG Marg branch here filed an FIR at the Civil Lines police station on Friday night against 18 named individuals after a gold loan scam was uncovered at the bank where loans amounting to several lakhs of rupees were allegedly sanctioned against fake gold in 2023. Those booked on the complaint of Pankaj Verma include authorised gold valuers Vishnu Verma and Kaushal Kishore Verma besides loan beneficiaries. Confirming the lodging of the FIR, Civil Lines police station In-charge Ramashray Yadav said a detailed investigation into the scam is underway. As per the complainant, the bank follows a standard procedure where gold pledged for loans is examined, verified and valued by authorised gold appraisers before loan approval. Based on these assessments, multiple gold loans amounting to several lakhs of rupees were sanctioned to different customers during 2023. As part of routine compliance, pledged gold is periodically re-verified. During inspections conducted on July 3 and July 15, 2025, bank officials discovered that the jewellery deposited as collateral was not genuine. Subsequent checks confirmed that the gold was fake. The loan beneficiaries named in the FIR include Paltu, Mahesh Pratap Singh, Shrish Kumar Srivastava, Ajay Kumar, Mohammad Arman, Vikas Kumar, Ravi Kumar, Manoj Kumar, Ranjana Yadav, Faiz Khan, Kuldeep Dubey, Alok Kesarwani, Kartikeya Kaushik and Mrityunjay Singh. Bank officials revealed that loans ranging between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 5 lakh were disbursed through multiple accounts. With accrued interest, the total outstanding amount has reportedly surged to crores of rupees....