In an Rs 2,654 crore financial scam, the CBI officials on Wednesday arrested three promoters of Vadodara-based Diamond Power and Infrastructure limited (DPIl).
The promoters — Narain Bhatnagar, founder of the company, managing director Amit Bhatnagar and joint MD Sumit Bhatnagar were arrested on the charges of defrauding 11 public and private sector banks of over Rs 2,654 crore were arrested on Wednesday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) informed.
CBI had registered a case against the trio on March 26, 2018 on allegations of cheating the banks to the tune of over Rs 2600 crores. The accused committed crore by opening account by producing false documents. Since then the accused were on the run. However, CBI had conducted raids at the residences of the promoters, factory and office premises of DPIl. This was followed by the raids by Enforcement Directorate to investigate for money laundering, while the Income-Tax Department too joined in the probe.
The CBI FIR stated that DPIl had fraudulently availed credit facilities from a consortium of 11 banks (both public and private) from 2008, leading to outstanding debt of Rs 2,654.40 crore as of June 29, 2016. DPIl accounts in Bank of India and Bank of Baroda were declared NPA on February 16, 2016, while other banks declared company’s accounts NPA from December, 2017.
According to CBI FIR, Bank of India’s exposure to DPIl stands at Rs 670.51 crore, Bank of Baroda has exposure of Rs 348.99 crore, Allahabad Bank’s 227.96 crore, Dena Bank’s 117.19 crore, while SBI’s exposure stands at Rs 266.37 crore.