CBI books Mumbai firm for Rs 4,957 cr fraud on Bank of Baroda's complaint

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 12

The government probe agency Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against Mumbai-based Pratibha Industries Ltd and its four directors and guarantors for duping a Bank of Baroda-led consortium of 17 banks to the tune of Rs 4,957 crore, officials said today.

They said those named in the FIR included directors and guarantors of the company Ajit Bhagwan Kulkarni, Ravi Kulkarni, Sunanda Datta Kulkarni, Sharad Prabhakar Deshpande and unidentified public servants and private persons, besides the firm.

In a statement, the central agency said the company was into development of infrastructure projects, which included designing, engineering and execution/construction of complexes, integrated water transmission, distribution projects, water treatment plants, mass housing projects, precast design and construction, road construction and urban infrastructure.

The CBI alleged the accused had diverted huge amounts of money from the borrower company to its related parties and subsidiaries and subsequently, these advances were written off.

The accounts of the said company were classified as NPAs on December 31, 2017, and subsequently, the accounts were also declared as fraud by the consortium, it added. “Searches were conducted today at four locations, including in Mumbai and Thane, which led to the recovery of several incriminating documents and articles,” the CBI said.

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