Rs 2,435-cr bank fraud case: CBI books ex-Crompton Greaves chairman, others

The CBI on Thursday carried out searches at locations in Mumbai, Delhi and Gurgaon.

The CBI on Thursday carried out searches at six locations after registering a fresh case of fraud of Rs 2,435 crore in Yes Bank and other consortium banks against former CG Power and Industrial Solutions chairman Gautam Thapar who is already under probe in more such cases, officials said.

CG Power and Industrial Solutions was earlier Crompton Greaves Ltd.

The searches took place at locations in Mumbai, Delhi and Gurgaon.

This is a new case against Thapar, who was booked recently in Rs 466 crore fraud case in Yes Bank, the officials said.

Thapar faces multiple Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIRs for alleged bank fraud and corruption, they said.

The present case is based on a complaint from the State Bank of India on behalf of the consortium of 11 other lender banks, including Yes Bank.

Besides Thapar, the CBI has also booked CG Power and Industrial Solutions, erstwhile Crompton Greaves Ltd, and the then executives, including chief executive officer and managing director K N Neelkanth, executive director and chief financial officer (CFO) Madhav Acharya, director B Hariharan, non-executive director Omkar Goswami and CFO Venkatesh Rammoorthy.

"It was alleged that the said accused had cheated SBI and other consortium member banks, including Bank of Maharashtra, Axis bank, Yes Bank, Corporation Bank, Barclays Bank, IndusInd Bank etc...," the CBI said in a statement.

It is alleged in the FIR that they between 2015 and 2019 allegedly cheated the banks by way of diversion of bank funds and sham transactions with related parties.

They also allegedly misrepresented and falsified account books, entries, vouchers and financial statements providing false, incorrect or misleading information to secure credit which they siphoned off by diverting them to other companies, the statement said.