Rajasthan Police summons First Leasing's former MD Farouk Merwani Irani

Irani says he is blameless in the matter and explained to authorities

The Commissioner of Police, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, has asked Farouk Merwani Irani, former managing director of First Leasing Company of India (FLCI), to appear before the authority for questioning on November 15. The notice, dated November 7, was sent to him signed by Vipin Sharma, additional deputy commissioner of police (crime & vigilance),  Police Commissionerate, Jodhpur.

Irani, however,  said he was blameless in the matter and has already explained the company’s position to relevant authorities. “If you don’t comply with this notice, appropriate legal action shall be taken,” the notice said.

An first information report was filed in 2013 under various Indian Penal Code sections, including cheating, criminal conspiracy, forgery and others. It may be noted that an affidavit was filed by Trideep Raj Bhandari in 2014 at Rajasthan High Court that  alleged a financial scam of Rs 1,600 crore could have taken place in the company. Bhandari is one of the shareholders in the company.

“This police notice arises from a Mr Bhandari from Rajasthan, who claims to have purchased shares in First Leasing during 2012-2013 in the open market. Bhandari took the decision independently without encouragement by the undersigned. His decision went wrong and he needed someone to blame apparently to compensate him for any loss. Over the past two years, he had repeatedly attempted to embarrass us...,” said Irani.

First Leasing was promoted by industrialist A C Muthiah and Farouk Irani and was part of M A Chidambaram Group. Presently, it is under the control of official liquidator. V Selvaraj is currently the chairman, according to information available with BSE.

In August 2014, the Madras High Court had allowed the petition filed by the ICICI Bank and appointed the official liquidator as provisional liquidator.

Earlier in an announcement to BSE, the firm had said Irani’s resignation from the position of managing director has been accepted by the board of directors.