The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case against a Vadodara-based company and its directors for allegedly cheating 11 banks of Rs 2,654 crore, a loan that was declared a non-performing asset in 2016-’17, The Hindu reported.
The CBI has alleged that Diamond Power Infrastructure Limited, an electrical equipment manufacturing company, and its directors had “fraudulently availed credit facilities from the consortium” of both public and private sector banks since 2008, “leaving behind an outstanding debit of Rs 2,654.40 crore as on June 29, 2016”, an official told The Hindu.
When the consortium was formed in 2008, Axis Bank was the lead bank for the term loan and Bank of India for cash credit limits. The agency suspects that Diamond Power had colluded with officials from the banks to get loans and credit facilities even though it was already on the Reserve Bank of India’s list of defaulters and the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India’s Caution List.
On Thursday, the CBI conducted searches at the company’s corporate office, two factories and in three houses of its founder and promoter SN Bhatnagar and his two sons, Managing Director Amit Bhatnagar and Joint Managing Director Sumit Bhatnagar, Moneycontrol reported.
The investigative agency has also alleged that Bank of India officials did not lower the cash credit limit even though Diamond Power failed to achieve its inflated turnover estimates repeatedly. The CBI also accused the company of submitting false stock statements, according to The Hindu.
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