Assets worth Rs 7.16 cr of Bush Foods accused attached: ED

Assets worth Rs 7.16 crore of Virkaran Awasty and Sai Chandrasekhar of Bush Foods Overseas Pvt. Ltd have been provisionally attached in a bank fraud case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Wednesday.

The ED had initiated an investigation on the basis of an FIR and charge sheet filed by the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police against the company and others.

"The investigation under the PMLA reveals that the financial statements of the company were manipulated for domestic sales. Virkaran Awasty, Ritika Awasty along with Vinod Sirohi had manipulated balance sheet of M/s Bush Foods Overseas Pvt. Ltd by fabricating the books of accounts," the probe agency said in a release.

"Bogus transactions were carried out in the company to avail the cash credit facility from the consortium of banks and at the same time stock/inventory of rice in the books was inflated," it said.

"The investigation further revealed that accused Virkaran Awasty and Ritika Awasty made false representation of stock/inventory and induced Hassad Netherlands BV to obtain a corporate guarantee for the outstanding amount of Rs 714 crore for availing credit facilities from the consortium of banks. Virkaran Awasty received Rs 2.49 crore from M/s Hassad Netherlands BV as part of the deal. Sai Chandrasekhar, an employee of Hassad Netherlands BV, also colluded and conspired with accused Virkaran Awasty to cheat Hassad Netherlands BV," the release added.

The ED said the probe has resulted in provisional attachment of movable and immovable properties worth Rs. 7.16 crore.

The attached assets include immovable properties worth Rs. 6.70 crore of Sai Chandrasekhar located at Bangalore and Mumbai besides balance in his bank accounts to the tune of Rs. 29.44 lakh, it said.

The balance in bank accounts of Virkaran Awasty and his wife Ritika to the tune of Rs. 16.72 lakh have also been attached, it added.