Ess Dee chairman Sudip Dutta arrested

Ess Dee Aluminium chairman Sudip Dutta has been arrested by Bengal Police for alleged provident fund default. He is currently in police custody.  

The alleged provident fund dues of Rs 42 lakh, which the company claims to have paid is of the employees of the Kamarhati unit. Dutta was arrested on Wednesday.

The Kamarhati unit was a part of the India Foils acquisition that Dutta made in 2009 from the Vedanta group to become the largest foil maker in the country. 

In a letter to the state finance minister in June, Dutta highlighted the problems facing the Kamarhati unit and its history of non-cooperation. "The Kamarhati unit was always a drag on the organisation with mounting losses due to militant and non-cooperative attitude of the workmen," the letter mentioned. The letter also said the workmen were being misled by Trinamool's former MLA, Madan Mitra.

Ess Dee has been undergoing financial stress for a while now. Its problems started when it collaborated with the government of Germany to invest Rs 450 crore in FY14. But, lenders had approved short term capital which landed the company in a debt trap. For close to two years now, all manufacturing units are non-operational.

However, Ess Dee has chalked out a revival plan with global investment firm, SSG Capital Management. Post-restructuring, SSG had confirmed an additional investment of Rs 400 crore through a mix of debt and equity. 

That plan may have got a jolt with the latest turn of events. But ironically, the Ess Dee stock was locked in the upper circuit today and closed at Rs 36.45 on the BSE.