CBI arrests 3 company directors in Rs 2,654 crore bank fraud case

The CBI has arrested three promoter-directors of a Vadodara-based company in connection with its ongoing investigation into a case of Rs 2,654.40 crore fraud committed on a consortium of banks, officials said on Wednesday.

A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official told IANS: "The agency has arrested the promoter-directors of the Diamond Power Infrastructure Ltd (DIPL) Suresh Narain Bhatnagar, his two sons Amit Suresh Bhatnagar and Sumit Suresh Bhatnagar."

The CBI located the accused in Udaipur in Rajasthan on Tuesday evening with the assistance of Gujarat Police and arrested them on Wednesday morning.

The official said they would be produced before the Special Judge of CBI Cases in Ahmedabad.

On March 26, the CBI filed a case against DPIL and its directors for defrauding the consortium of 11 banks of Rs 2,654.40 crore. The loan availed by them was declared a non-performing asset (NPA) in 2016-17.

Since the filing of case, the agency has carried out searches at the corporate office, two factory premises and the residences of the directors of the firm.

According to the CBI FIR, the DPIL, which is engaged in the production of cables and other electrical equipment, fraudulently availed credit facilities since 2008, leaving behind a total outstanding debit of Rs 2,654.40 crore as of June 29, 2016.

The agency said that the company managed to get term loans and credit facilities thought it figured in the Reserve Bank of India's list of defaulters and the caution list of Export Credit Guarantee Corp of India (ECGCI) at the time of initial sanction of credit limits by the consortium.

At the time of consortium's formation in 2008, Axis Bank was the lead bank for the term loan and the Bank of India was the lead bank for cash credit (CC) limits.

The Bank of India, which tops the list with Rs 670.51 crore of loans, is followed by Bank of Baroda (Rs 348.99 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 279.46 crore), State Bank of India (Rs 266.37 crore), Axis Bank (Rs 255.32 crore), Allahabad Bank (Rs 227.96), Dena Bank (Rs 177.19 crore), Corporation Bank (109.12 crore), Exim Bank of India (Rs 81.92 crore), IOB (Rs 71.59) and the IFCI Bank (58.53 crore).

The company, allegedly with the support of officials from various banks, managed to obtain enhancement in credit facilities.

The FIR said the DPIL, through its founder and directors associated in the criminal conspiracy with the unidentified bank officials of various banks, cheated those banks by way of misappropriating public funds through falsification of accounts, creation of false documents, forgery of records and knowingly using such records as genuine.

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