To Srijana Chand, who had just built a new house at Gongabu, Ramesh (name changed), an owner of a furniture outlet at Bhangal, Bansbari, was someone she could trust with finances. He used to supply her furnishing items from his outlet as and when she required.

In September, Ramesh asked for a Rs1.9 million loan from Chand and gave her a post-dated cheque. Chand informed her husband Dibendra, 47, about Ramesh’s request. Dibendra, who had recently returned from Macau after working there for 13 years, agreed to Ramesh’s request, based on their past experience of doing business.

Ramesh had already supplied furniture worth around Rs1 million to the family from his shop at Bhangal in Budhanilkantha Municipality.

“In the past, he seemed honest,” Chand told the Post at the District Police Range Kathmandu on Sunday. Ramesh had convinced the couple that he needed the money to expand his furniture warehouse.

“He even promised to sign a loan contract, but as we trusted him, we provided him the money without a contract, as we needed more furniture for our new house,” said Chand. After a month, she went to the NIC Asia Bank at Gongabu to cash the cheque Ramesh had given.

To her disbelief, the cheque bounced.

When she tried to contact Ramesh, he was unreachable. She started inquiring about him and came to know that Ramesh had similarly duped 15 others in the area and was now untraceable.

“We came to know that Ramesh only had a small share in the furniture business,” said Chand.

Five months ago, Pradip Khatri, 31, who lived in the Pepsi Cola area, gave Rs500,000 to Hari Prasad (name changed), a real estate broker. Hari had promised to return the sum to Khatri after transferring the ownership of a piece of land to another person, in a month’s time. He told Khatri the transfer process had already begun and that he would get his money back within weeks.

Khatri knew Hari through one of his relatives and they had met regularly for a few years as both of them lived in the same area.

“He gave me a signed cheque for the amount I gave him in cash. After a month, I went to the bank to withdraw the money, but there was no balance in his account. Since then, the man has been out of contact,” said Khatri, who owns a business near PepsiCola, Kathmandu.

Chand and Khatri’s examples illustrate a larger problem. Records at the Teku-based Kathmandu District Police Range show that banking crimes, especially cases of bad cheques, are rapidly increasing in the Valley. On Sunday, when the Post reached the Teku office, there was a queue of more than 20 people who were there to register complaints against similar banking frauds.

“We are struggling to process all the financial offence cases we are getting,” said Superintendent of Police Dinesh Raj Mainali, spokesperson for the range. Police records show a single cheque of up to Rs210 million has bounced.

As things stand, 3,563 complaints of bad cheques were lodged in the past five months and the police registered 2,529 of them. The unregistered complaints involved cases where the parties had settled disputes through mutual understanding, while the others were of those who had inquired about the process to file complaints. In the fiscal year 2020-2021, a total of 1,997 cases of banking fraud were registered at the police range.

Half a decade ago, in the fiscal year 2015-2016, only seven cases of banking fraud were registered, while in 2017-2018, there were only 10 such cases filed with the police in the Valley.

After registering the cases, the police issue warrants against alleged offenders based on their preliminary investigation. In some instances, offenders return the money. “But many remain out of contact, so we depute our respective police circles to look after the case in their area,” said Inspector Pratik Singh, deputy in-charge of the Banking Fraud Offence Department at the District Police Range, Teku.

According to the Banking Offence and Punishment Act, 2008, the bouncing of a written cheque three times due to the account holder’s failure to maintain the amount mentioned on the cheque is counted as a banking offence.

If the stated amount is up to Rs1 million, the culprit faces up to a year’s imprisonment. An amount between over Rs1 million and Rs5 million attracts a jail-term of one to two years. For amounts between over Rs5 million and Rs10 million, and above Rs10 million, the jail terms are between two to three years, and three to five years, respectively.

Criminologist Ganesh Bhattarai, who is also a professor at the Kathmandu School of Law, mostly blames the country’s current economic crisis for the increasing number of such crimes.

“There has been an interruption in the flow of money since the Covid-19 pandemic. The real estate business has also faltered, driving many business people into huge losses,” said Bhattarai. “Getting rid of creditors by giving them a bad cheque is their way of avoiding a difficult situation,” he added.

Mainali, the spokesperson for the police range, agreed that the main reason for the soaring number of cheque bounce cases is the ongoing economic crisis.

“Yes, a few people involved have been found to be ignorant, who did not know the gravity of their crimes, but many are doing so intentionally, and looking for ways to earn a quick buck by deceiving people with post-dated cheques.”

According to the Teku-based Banking Fraud Offence Department at the District Police Range, of the total cheque fraudsters, over 93 percent admit to acting intentionally.

Mainali added: “I request people to keep their bank cheques safe and issue a cheque only when they are sure their accounts have the amount mentioned.”

Meanwhile, Chand, who has already visited the Teku police office three times to request the police to nab Ramesh, said she never knew she would have to go through such an ordeal.

“This is a big financial loss for my family,” said Chand. "Earlier, I thought I was the only person who had been cheated, but when I came to file a complaint with the police, I was surprised to learn that so many others had been similarly duped.”