The CBI on Saturday arrested six people, including Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of Syndicate Bank SK Jain for allegedly taking bribe of Rs50 lakh for extending credit limit of some defaulting companies in contravention of banking regulations. Jain was kept under surveillance for six months before his arrest in Bangalore and CBI nabbed Jain’s relative and a Madhya Pradesh-based Chartered Accountant while allegedly receiving cash from representatives of the accused Delhi-based companies which have been involved in coal scam.
The CBI has filed two cases against Jain — accusing him of receiving a bribe of Rs50 lakh through conduits and abusing his official position to enhance the credit limits of some companies in violation of laid down procedures, sources said. Following registration of the cases, searches were conducted at 20 places in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Bhopal.
The agency has alleged that the conduit was the brother-in-law of the CMD and the deal was struck by the chartered accountant who has started his own firm of providing loans to big corporate houses.CBI claimed to have recovered cash to the tune of Rs21 lakh from Jain’s residence besides gold ornaments worth Rs1.68 crore and fixed deposit certificates up to Rs63 lakh.
In the two FIRs, the CBI has named Neeraj Singhal, vice president and MD of Bushan Steel, Ved Prakash Agarwal, CMD of Prakash Industries, Pawan Bansal, CA, Vineet and Puneet Godha (relatives of Jain), Vijay Pahuja, Purushotam Totlani and Pankaj Bansal. Vineet Godha was earlier a spokesperson of Madhya Pradesh Congress.
It is alleged that Bushan steel used the services of Totlani and the money was handed over to Vineet, the sources claimed and added at that point the CBI arrested both.