1 2025:CGHC:33259 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH, BILASPUR WP(C) No. 3684 of 2025 1 - Pavitra Lakra D/o Late Barkat Singh Aged About 36 Years Occupation - Teacher, R/o Near Morning Star School Gangapur, Ambikapur, District - Sarguja (C.G.) 2 - Shama Archana Minj D/o Barnabas Minj Aged About 38 Years Occupation - Staff Nurse, R/o Q.No.-279, Old Minus Bhatgaon Colliery, District - Surajpur (C.G.) 3 - Kusum Kanta Tirkey W/o Suresh Toppo Aged About 39 Years Occupation - Staff Nurse, R/o Ward No.-46, Sarkanda, Bilaspur, District - Bilaspur (C.G.) 4 - Sarla Paikra D/o Sukedev Ram Aged About 32 Years Occupation - Assistant Professor, R/o Professor Colony, Chitalavka, District - Dantewada (C.G.) 5 - Shivnarayan Singh S/o Adityanarayan Singh Aged About 51 Years Occupation - Head Master, R/o Village And Post - Parshurampur, District - Surajpur (C.G.) 6 - Sisiliya Bakhla W/o Anil Bakhla Aged About 55 Years Occupation - Assistant Grade-Ii, R/o Soni Colony, Ward No.-7, Gandhinagar, Ambikapur, District - Surajpur (C.G.) 7 - Philirius Toppo S/o Paulus Toppo Aged About 52 Years Occupation - A.S.I., R/o Police Line, District - Balrampur (C.G.) 8 - Ajat Tigga W/o Bahadur Tigga Aged About 53 Years Occupation - Teacher L.B., R/o Jhargaon, Post - Chringa, District - Sarguja (C.G.) 9 - Gudda Ram Barwa S/o Devsay Barwa Aged About 45 Years Occupation - Panchayat Secretary, R/o Gram - Losangi, Post - Lakhanpur, District - Sarguja (C.G.) 2 10 - Anna Xaxa W/o Prabhu Xaxa Aged About 53 Years Occupation - Teacher, R/o Gram - Nawapara, Post - Sakholi, District - Sarguja (C.G.) 11 - Varsha Beck W/o Vardan Khalkho Aged About 35 Years Occupation - Staff Nurse, R/o Gwalni Pride, Shubham Vihar, Mangla, District - Bilaspur (C.G.) 12 - Homan Lal S/o Gend Lal Aged About 47 Years Occupation - Data Entry Operator, R/o Shanti Nagar, Bhilai, District - Durg (C.G.) 13 - Santosh Barwa S/o Patisay Barwa Aged About 36 Years Occupation - Constable, R/o Ward No.-8, Post - Phundhurdihari, Ambikapur, District - Sarguja (C.G.) 14 - Perpetua Tigga W/o Sanjay Tigga Aged About 47 Years Occupation - Teacher, R/o House No.-118, Jurudand, Post - Pirai, Tahsil - Bagicha, District - Jashpur (C.G.) ... Petitioner(s) versus 1 - Union Of India Department Of Financial Services, Ministry Of Finance, 3rd Flor, Jeevan Deep Building, Sansad Marg, New Delhi - 110001 2 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through Director, Directorate Of Institutional Finance, Finance Department, Government Of Chhattisgarh, Indravati Bhavan, Naya Raipur (C.G.) 3 - Reserve Bank Of India Through Governor, Reserve Bank Of India, 4th Floor, Amar Building, Sir P.M. Road, Mumbai - 400 001, Maharastra 4 - Banking Ombudsman Reserve Bank Of India Regional Office Raipur, Subhashish Parisar, Satya Prem Vihar, Mahadev Ghat Road, Sunder Nagar, District - Raipur, Chhattisgarh 5 - Cholamandalam Investment And Finance Company Limited (C.I.F.C.L.) Having Corporate Office At Chola Crest, C54-55 And Super B-4, Thiru-Vi-Ka Industrial Estate, Guindy, Chennai - 600032 6 - Chhattisgarh Rajya Gramin Bank Through - Chairman, Corporate Office, Sector-24, Atal Nagar, Naya Raipur, Chhattisgarh 3 7 - Aditya Birla Capital Limited Having Corporate Office At 18th Floor, Tower-1, One World Centre, Jupiter Mill Compound, 841, Senapati Bapat Marg, Elphinstone Road, Mumbai - 400 013 8 - Axis Bank Limited Having Its Registered Office At Trishul, Opposite Samartheshwan Temple, Ellis Bridge, Ahmedabad - 380006 9 - Piramal Capital And Housing Finance Limited Having Its Registered Office At 601, 6th Floor, Amiti Building, Agastya Corporate Park, Kamani Junction, Opp. Fire Station, L.B.S. Marg, Kurla (W), Mumbai, Maharastra 10 - Yes Bank Limited Having Is Office At Yes Bank Tower, I.F.C. 02, 23rd Floor, Senapati Bopat Marg, Elphinestone (W), Mumbai 400013 11 - Indusland Bank Limited Having Registered Office At Indusind Bank Limited, 2401 Gen. Thimmayya Road (Cantonment), Pune- 411001 12 - Hdfc Bank Ramon House, 169, Backbay Reclamation, H.T. Parekh Marg, Churchgate, Mumbai – 400020 13 - Bank Of Baroda Head Office, Baroda Bhavan, R.C. Dutt Road, Alkapuri, Baroda - 390007, Gujarat 14 - Icici Bank Limited Having Its Registered Office At I.C.I.C.I. Bank Tower, Near Chakli Circle, Old Padra Road, Vadodara 390007, Gujarat 15 - Paysense Services India Private Limited Having Registered Office At Empressa Building, Fourth Floor, Second Road, Khar West, Mumbai - 400 052, Maharashtra 16 - State Bank Of India Having Registered Office At Corporate Centre, State Bank Bhavan, Madame Cama Road, Nariman Point, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400021 17 - Idbi Bank I.D.B.I. Tower, W.T.C. Complex, Cuffe Parade, Colaba, Mumbai, Maharashtra 18 - Collector District - Durg, Chhattisgarh 19 - Collector District - Sarguja, Chhattisgarh 20 - Collector District - Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh 21 - Collector District - Dantewada, Chhattisgarh 4 22 - Collector District - Surajpur, Chhattisgarh 23 - Collector District - Balrampur, Chhattisgarh 24 - Collector District - Jashpur, Chhattisgarh 25 - Director General Of Police Raipur, District - Raipur, Chhattisgarh 26 - Spash Advisor Private Limited Through Its Proprietor Manoj Kumar Pradhan, Having Registered Office At Office No. F.F., 1st Floor, D.M. Plaza, Nalghar Chowk, Chhota Para, Raipur, Chhattisgarh 27 - Spash Advisor Private Limited Through Its Proprietor Manoj Kumar Pradhan, Having Branch Office At Behind Vashundhara City Mall, Near Tulsi Chowk, Gangapur, Ambikapur, Surguja, Chhattisgarh – 497001 28 - Shayam Sundar Yadav Sales Manager, Chola Mandalam Investment And Finance Company, Ambikapur, District - Surguja (C.G.) 29 - Akash Chandra Chaki A.M.B. Assistant General Manager, Chola Mandalam Investment And Finance Company, Ambikapur, District - Surguja (C.G.) 30 - Pradeep Kumar Mandal Area Credit Operation Manager, Chola Mandalam Investment And Finance Company, Ambikapur, District - Surguja (C.G.) 31 - Diksha Jaiswal Agency Manager, Aditya Birla Capital Finance Company, Ambikapur, District - Surguja (C.G.) 32 - Dse Khuleshwar Sahu Axis Bank, Raipur (C.G.) 33 - Sumit Kumar Chaubey Area Sales Manager, Chola Mandalam Investment And Finance Company, Ambikapur, District - Surguja (C.G.) 34 - Divya Nagpal Employee Code - 388648, Axis Bank, Raipur (C.G.) 35 - Sunil Patel Aditya Birla Finance Company, Ambikapur, District - Surguja (C.G.) 36 - Abhishek Pandey Aditya Birla Finance Company Ambikapur, District - Surguja (C.G.) 5 37 - Pooja Yadav D.S.A., Chola Mandalam Investment And Finance Company, 1st Floor, Malviya Tower, Near Gurugovind Singh Chowk, Akashwani Road, Jagdalpur (C.G.) 38 - Mr. Aswin Area Credit Operation Manager, Chola Mandalam Investment And Finance Company, 1st Floor, Malviya Tower, Near Gurugovind Singh Chowk, Akashwani Road, Jagdalpur (C.G.) 39 - Devkumar Biswas Connector, I.C.I.C.I. Bank Ltd., Samudaik Bhawan, Gram Panchayat Faraspal, Block Office - Geedam, District - Dantewada (C.G.) 40 - Tribhuvan Singh Bank Manager, State Bank Of India, Collectorate Branch, Collectorate Campus, District - Dantewada (C.G.) ---- Respondents For Petitioners : Dr. Arpit Lall & Mr. Ayush Lall, Advocates For UoI/Respondent No.1 : Mr. Niraj Baghel & Ms. Shweta Rai, Advocates appears on behalf of Mr. Ramakant Mishra, DSGI For State/Respondents No.2 & 18 to 25 : Mr. Praveen Das, Dy. AG For Respondents No.3, 4, 6 & 16 : Mr. P.R. Patankar & Ms. Vartika Shrivastava, Advocates For Respondent No.13 : Mr. Ayush Mahiswar, Advocate on behalf of Mr. Ankit Singhal, Advocate Hon'ble Shri Justice Arvind Kumar Verma Order on Board 16/07/2025 1. The petitioners have been filed this writ petition on the following relief(s) : “10.1 That, the Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to call for the entire records of the case of the 6 petitioners from the respondent authorities for its kind perusal. 10.2 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to direct the respondent no. 5 to 17 to not to take any coercive actions and not to proceed with any legal proceedings against the petitioners and if any initiated may kindly be stayed in the interest of justice. 10.3 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to direct the respondent authority to remit the full loan amount which was sanctioned fraudulently in the interest of justice. 10.4 That, the Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to direct respondent no. 4 and 25 to initiate proper investigation in the present matter on the illegal disbursement of personal loans without duly following the guidelines issued by RBI. 10.5 Any other relief, which this Hon'ble Court deems fit and proper including the cost of the petition, may also kindly be granted to the petitioners, in the interest of justice.” 2. Learned counsel for the petitioners contended that the petitioners are Government employees and are victims of the Bank forgery case. A Raipur based company namely RV Group and Spash Advisors Pvt. Ltd. through their representatives namely Abhay Gupta, Surendra Singh, Manoj Kumar Pradhan, Ragif Hussain, Manoj Bhagat, Pooja Yadav, Dev Kumar Minj approached to the various government employees 7 across the State including the present petitioners and they assured them to provide maximum loan from various banks. These representatives of RV Group and Spash Advisors Pvt. Ltd. claims that they are having good relation and tie with the reputed banks such as HDFC, ICICI, Bandhan Bank, Axis Bank, Yes Bank, Kotak Bank, Bank of Baroda and having good tie with private finance company such as Aditya Birla, Chola Mandalam, Bajaj Finance, Fullerton India, Finnable and Payasense etc. and they provide assurance to the present petitioners that they will provide them loan from these banks very smoothly and with very few formalities without going to the banks physically. He further contended that The abovementioned representatives of the company who are called connectors, they used to select the persons nearby them who are government employees and who are in need of the money/loan for certain works. The representatives/connectors of these company used to say to the petitioners that based on their salary it is not ponible that the bank will sanction huge much amount for them and thereby they motivates the present petitioners that by looking to the RV Group the banks will sanction good amount of loan from them and out of the sanctioned amount of loan the RV Group will take 50% amount that will be kept with them as fixed deposit and RV Group will return the 50% of the amount after some times and also the company will pay the instalments for the petitioners for 5 to 6 years and will help the petitioners to clear their loan amount. It is respectfully submitted by the petitioners that the 8 representatives/connectors came to the house of the petitioners and collected all the relevant documents such as PAN Card, Aadhar Card, Salary Slip, Bank Statement, Form 16 etc. and all these documents were submitted in the bank and the RV Group made the false signatures of the present petitioners on the bank papers. He further contended that the petitioners were not acquainted with this facts that the RV Group has sanctioned loans from different banks whose interest on loan is high by using the documents of the petitioners and by making their false signatures thereby on the bank papers. The RV Group and banks sanctioned the loan for the petitioners without their physical visit in bank and without having any guarantor for the loan, which goes on to show the involvement of the RV Group and bank authorities in the present forgery crime in question. The RV Group gave the blank cheques to the petitioners to as a security but when the petitioners used the cheque in the bank it was bounced with the statement that the signature does not match. Therefore, the blank cheque given for security was bounced and petitioners left with no other option for clearing there loan amount. The RV Group with the banks has sanctioned the loan from different banks and every banks are having their own installments which is deducted automatically from their salary bank account. The petitioners are not having enough salary to repay their debts due to which many installments has been bounced on which the banks has issued legal notice to the petitioners and also recovery process against the petitioners. In The victims ultimately 9 became the guilty and are seeking justice. The petitioners made written complaint in various police station and also made application to the concerned SP but no detailed investigation or inquiry was initiated and the petitioners are still suffering from the unnecessary legal proceedings initiated by the banks for the recovery of the loan amount. The Petitioners are government employees and they have exhausted all the available legal remedies. Learned counsel for the petitioners referred the a copy of direction issued by the Reserve Bank of India which is Reserve Bank of India (Digital Lending) Directions, 2025. 3. Learned counsel for the respondents contended that the alternative remedy available to the petitioners to file their applications before the banking ombudsman, therefore, this petition is not maintainable. 4. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record with utmost circumspection. 5. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case and submission made by learned counsel for the parties. Further considering the direction issued by the Reserve Bank of India (Digital Lending) Directions, 2025. Para Nos.7 & 9 of the said direction are provide as under :- “7. Assessing the borrower’s creditworthiness i. RE shall obtain the necessary information relating to economic profile of the borrower with a view to 10 assessing the borrower's creditworthiness before extending any loan, including, at a minimum, age, occupation and income details. The same shall be kept on record for audit purposes. ii. RE shall ensure that there is no automatic increase in credit limit unless an explicit request is received, evaluated and kept on record from the borrower for such increase. 9. Loan disbursal, servicing and repayment i. Disbursement of loan by the RE shall always be made into the bank account of the borrower except for disbursals covered exclusively under statutory or regulatory mandate (of RBI or of any other regulator), flow of money between REs for co-lending transactions and disbursals for specific end use, provided the loan is disbursed directly into the bank account of the end- beneficiary, RE shall ensure that in no case, disbursal is made to a third-party account, including the accounts of LSP, except as provided for in these Directions. ii. RE shall ensure that all loan servicing, repayment, etc. is executed by the borrower directly in the RE's bank 11 account without any pass-through account/ pool account of any third party, including the accounts of LSP. iii. The flow of funds between the bank accounts of the borrower and the RE shall not be controlled either directly or indirectly by a third-party, including the LSP.” 6. Looking to the above, this Court of the opinion that since the alternative remedy available to the petitioners to file appropriate application/complaint before the banking ombudsman, therefore, it is permitted to the petitioners that they submit their application/complaint before the concerned banking ombudsman and in-turn the banking ombudsman shall consider and decide the complaint of the petitioners within a period of ‘30 days’ from the date of receipt of complaint made by the petitioners, in accordance with rules, regulations and law governed in the field. 7. It is made clear that this Court has not expressed any opinion on the merits of the case. 8. Accordingly, the instant petition stands disposed of. Sd/- (Arvind Kumar Verma) Judge Vasant