The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered separate cases against three companies and others on allegations of defrauding banks to the tune of a total of more than Rs6,800 crore.
In one instance, the CBI registered a case against a private company based in Mumbai and others including its four directors, guarantors, unknown public servants, and unknown private persons on the basis of a complaint by Bank of Baroda alleging fraud of Rs4,957.31 crore to a consortium of 17 banks.
Those named in the FIR include Pratibha Industries Limited (PIL), Mumbai, Mr Ajit Bhagwan Kulkarni (director and guarantor), Mr Ravi Kulkarni (director and guarantor), Ms Sunanda Datta Kulkarni (director and guarantor), Mr Sharad Prabhakar Deshpande, director, unknown public servants, and unknown private persons.
The company undertakes infrastructure projects, including designing, engineering, and execution of complex and integrated water transmission and distribution projects, water treatment plants, mass housing projects, pre-cast design and construction, road construction and urban infrastructure. The company is working on 15 projects all over India, with its customers including the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and Delhi Jal Board (DJB), the bank stated in its complaint to the CBI.
The CBI alleged that the accused had diverted money from the borrower company to related parties and subsidiaries and that these advances were subsequently written-off by the company. It also alleged that the company had entered into fictitious transactions to inflate its turnover. The work-in-progress was allegedly inflated to avail credit facilities from lender banks and a huge amount of vendor liability was directly adjusted against the customer account without any supporting document.
The account of the private company was classified as NPA in December 2017.
Searches were conducted on Thursday at four locations including in Mumbai and Thane, which led to the recovery of several incriminating documents, agency officials claimed.
The CBI also registered a case against a private company based at Mumbai and others including unknown public servants and unknown persons on complaint from the Punjab National Bank (PNB) involving bank fraud of Rs1,688.41 crore to a consortium of 10 banks. Searches were conducted on Thursday at three locations including at Mumbai and Jaipur, which led to the recovery of several incriminating documents.
Those named in the FIR by the CBI include Vadraj Cement Limited, Mumbai, Mr Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal (promoter director), Krishna Gopal Toshniwal (director), Vijay Prakash Gopivallabh Sharma, (director), and others.
The company is involved in manufacturing and supply of cement in India, the CBI said. The borrower company allegedly approached PNB and other members of consortium banks for setting up cement facilities at Mora village in Surat and Thumdi village in Kutch, Gujarat, for manufacturing various types of cement, it said.
"It was further alleged that the accused had diverted huge amounts from the borrower company to its related parties and subsidiaries. The credit facilities obtained from the banks were allegedly diverted in violation of sanctioned terms and conditions," said a CBI official.
The account of the company was classified as NPA by PNB in March 2018.
The agency also registered four separate cases on complaints from Canara Bank, PNB, IDBI Bank Ltd & EXIM Bank against a private company and its officials on allegations of frauds of a total of Rs217.37 crore. Searches at the premises of Mumbai resident Devki Nandan Sehgal, a whole time director of PSL Ltd led to $90,413 and cash of Rs1.99 crore being recovered, agency officials said on Thursday.
The first case was registered against the company, which is said to be involved in pipe manufacturing and coating, and others on the allegations of defrauding e-Syndicate Bank (now Canara Bank) to the tune of Rs30.49 crore. The second case was registered on allegations of defrauding Oriental Bank of Commerce (now merged with PNB) to the tune of Rs51.90 crore. The third case was registered on the allegations of defrauding IDBI Bank Ltd to the tune of Rs29.06 crore, while the fourth was registered on allegations of defrauding EXIM Bank to the tune of Rs105.92 crore.
Bank of Baroda has alleged fraud of Rs4,957.31 crore
Punjab National Bank has claimed that is was defrauded ofRs1,688.41
Canara Bank,PNB, IDBI Bank Ltd, and EXIM Bank have alleged fraud of more than Rs217.37 crore
