How the cookie crumbled for CG Power, once the cash-cow of Avantha group

The electrical machinery major is fighting to keep the business going amidst scrutiny of allegations of cash-stripping by the promoter group

It all began in April. An innocuous looking demand by a private bank for reissuance of a dated cheque landed up at the desk of V R Venkatesh, then CG Power chief financial officer (CFO). But he was on leave that day. The letter ended up with chief executive and managing director K N Neelkant. 

Neelkant could not figure out why such a demand was being made by the bank in the first place. He asked the finance team to check the antecedents of the cheque. The investigation that followed triggered the unravelling of several unauthorised transactions — not approved