The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case against a Delhi-based diamond exporter and his companies for allegedly cheating the Oriental Bank of Commerce of Rs 389.85 crore, PTI reported on Friday. This comes after billionaire jewellery designers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi have been named accused in a Rs 11,380-crore scam at the Punjab National Bank.
The agency has booked Dwarka Das Seth International Pvt Ltd, its directors Sabhya Seth, Reeta Seth, Krishna Kumar Singh, and Ravi Singh, and another company named Dwarka Das Seth SEZ Incorporation six months after the public sector bank filed a complaint for the alleged fraud. Sabhya and Reeta Seth are residents of Punjabi Bagh, and Krishan Kumar Singh and Ravi Kumar Singh are from Sarai Kale Khan, according to Times Now.
Dwarka Das Seth International took loans from the bank between 2007 and 2012. According to the bank’s complaint, the company issued Letters of Credit to pay off other creditors against the purchase of gold and other precious stones. It also transferred gold and funds outside the country and engaged in business transactions with non-existent entities.
The bank had conducted its own inquiry before approaching the CBI in August 2017, reported The Times of India. During investigation, it found that Sabhya Seth and other directors and their family members could not be found at their residences for the last 10 months.
According to the bank, Sabhya Seth set up a firm called Freya Trading Co in Dubai after cheating the public lender. He even hired an Indian representative called Atul Kumar Garg. “I had done some business with him years ago but I don’t know where he is now,” Garg told The Times of India. “I have nothing to do with him.”
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