CBI searches 190 locations in bank fraud cases worth over Rs 7200 crore

In a massive crackdown on alleged bank fraudsters, the CBI on Tuesday carried out searches at over 190 locations in the country after registering 42 fresh cases in scams involving cumulative funds of over Rs 7,000 crore, officials said.

The exercise, launched early in the morning, was carried out throughout the day, with CBI teams knocking the doors of the accused to collect evidence and question them, they said.

The operation was spread across 16 states and union territories with as many as 1,000 officers of the agency involved in it making it one of the largest coordinated search this year, they said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said in at least four cases, the siphoned off funds are over Rs 1000 crore.

Maximum searches were reported from Maharashtra where the agency's teams swooped down at 58 locations followed by Punjab, where 32 locations were searched, the officials said.

Twelve locations were searched in the national capital, 17 each in Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh, 15 in Uttar Pradesh, five in Andhra Pradesh, two in Chandigarh, four each in Kerala, Telangana and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, five each in Gujarat and Haryana, six in Karnataka and two each in Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

Among major cases, the CBI has booked promoters and directors of Advantage Overseas Pvt Ltd Shrikant Bhasi, Dinesh Arkot Selvaraj, Manish Kumar Singh, Gagan Sharma and Jijo John for allegedly cheating State Bank of India, Bhopal, by falsifying records to avail credit facilities of Rs 6000 crore.

The company involved in bulk trading of agro commodities defaulted on payments causing a loss of Rs 1266 crore to the bank, the officials said.

A separate case has been registered against Energo Engineering Projects Ltd and its directors -- chairman Sujit Das, Dinesh V Singh managing director Jaya Singh -- for availing credit facilities to the tune of Rs 1290 crore on forged documents.

Later payment defaults caused a loss of Rs 1266 crore to the bank.

Surana Industries in Chennai and its directors Dinesh Chand Surana, Shanti Lal Surana, Gautham Lal Surana, Vijayraj Surana, and others have been named in CBI FIR for allegedly causing a loss of Rs 1083 crore to a consortium of 12 banks led by IDBI, the officials said.

It is alleged that they utilised credit facilities, books of accounts and diverted loan funds to different accounts, they said.

Varanasi-based JBL Agro Industries, its Chairman DN Jhunjhunwala and directors SN Jhunjhunwala, Adarsh Jhunjhunwala and Anju Jhunjhunwala had allegedly submitted forged stock statements and balance sheets to induce Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank by taking Rs 518 crore worth of credit facilities from each of them which turned into losses for the public sector banks, the officials said.

Delhi-based Lal Sons Jewellers in Karol Bagh and its directors allegedly caused a loss of Rs 222.96 crore to Oriental Bank of Commerce, they said.

The directors Rajiv Paul Singh Verma, Sanjay Paul Verma and Poonam Verma allegedly entered in criminal conspiracy to avail credit facilities. Their import letters of credit started devolving as company failed to receive payments from Dubai-based Passi Jewellers LLC, the officials said.

The company allegedly diverted funds by fraudulent activities and falsification of records of payment to creditors without any genuine business transaction, they said.

The agency has also booked Shree Nathjee Roller Flour Mills and its directors Amarchand Gupta, Ramlal Gupta, Rajkumar Gupta and Shakuntala Devi for allegedly misappropriating Rs 149.76 crore of loan funds from Andhra Bank, the official said.

Among other alleged frauds being probed by the agency are SEL Manufacturing in Bank of Maharashtra worth Rs 113.55 crore, Advance Surfactants in SBI worth Rs 118.49 crore, Eskay Knit worth Rs 42.16 crore in Dena Bank (now Bank of Baroda), Krishna Knitwear Technology worth over Rs 27 crore in Canara Bank, they said.