HC grants bail to J&K Bank Manager in crore-scale fake loan scam case
31/12/2025
JAMMU, Dec 30: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh at Jammu has granted bail to Jatinder Kumar, a J&K Bank official, in a case stemming from alleged fraudulent sanction of loans on the basis of forged documents and impersonation. The bail was granted by Justice Mohd. Yousuf Wani in Bail App No. 82/2025.
Kumar is an accused in FIR No. 86/2023 dated 29.08.2023 registered at Police Station Crime Branch, EOW, Jammu, under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B IPC read with Sections 7 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
As per the prosecution case, a complaint by a senior J&K Bank officer alleged that co-accused Saleem Yousuf Bhati and others activated dormant accounts of a Water Shed Committee, changed nomenclature of accounts, issued fake salary certificates/confirmation letters, opened fraudulent government accounts and obtained personal/cash credit/car loans by impersonating government employees, causing huge losses.
The prosecution further alleged that Kumar, posted at the bank's Rajouri main branch as Manager, processed personal loan cases of fake employees and ignored glaring discrepancies, besides allegedly receiving bribe/kickbacks.
The order also records allegations of money trail-stating that amounts were transferred through an account of "Imperial Trading Company", including ?5 lakh to Kumar and ?4.75 lakh to an SBI account of his wife, besides noting that the main accused was arrested at IGI Airport, New Delhi on 04.10.2023, during which Kumar's credit card was allegedly recovered from the co-accused.
Kumar, however, pleaded innocence, contending that his name did not figure in the original FIR, that he was implicated later, and that he was not responsible for document verification or loan sanctioning, claiming his role was limited to placing documents before the competent authority.
He also stated he had been arrested in February 2025 and remained in custody since then.
After hearing both sides, the High Court observed that the supplementary charge-sheet had been presented, co-accused had already been granted bail, and there was no stated requirement of Kumar's custodial detention at this stage.
The Court allowed the application and admitted him to bail on furnishing personal bond and surety of ?1 lakh each, with conditions including not leaving India without permission, appearing before the trial court, and not influencing witnesses.
Kumar was represented by Senior Advocate Vikram Sharma, assisted by Advocates Monish Chopra and Sahil Sharma, while the UT was represented by Senior AAG Monika Kohli.
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