Rotomac loan fraud swells to Rs 3,695 crore; CBI, ED register case

New Delhi/Kanpur: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday widened the ambit of their ongoing investigation against the promoters of the Rotomac Global Private Limited as firm's alleged loan default case touched Rs 3,695 crore.

The CBI earlier raided several locations in Kanpur in connection with the loan default by the Rotomac Pen company's chief Vikram Kothari, his wife and son.

The central probe agency had filed a case against the three and some unidentified bank officials on Sunday night.

The investigation into the alleged bank loan default was estimated to be around Rs 800 crore. 

However, in the complaint filed by the Bank of Baroda, it was alleged that a consortium of seven banks had been cheated by Kothari and his company by siphoning off Rs 2,919 crore taken as loan. Total outstanding amount, along with interest, would amount to Rs 3,695 crore, an unidentified CBI official said, according to ANI.

Kothari is the Chairman and Managing Director of the Kanpur-based Rotomac Global Private Limited, which had obtained the money from the consortium of banks. His wife Sadhana and son Rahul are directors of the company.

The CBI also reportedly sealed residential premises and an office of Rotomac directors in New Delhi.

Coming close on the heels of the Rs 11,300 crore Punjab National Bank`s fraud, the Rotomac case that surfaced on Sunday had fanned speculations that Kothari too, might try and flee the country.

However, the CBI could reach Kanpur and question the three accused. The CBI also raided three other locations in Kanpur related to the case, an official said.

The banks involved in the loan default, apart from BoB are Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Indian Overseas Bank, Union Bank of India, Allahabad Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce.

ED files money laundering case against Rotomac pens' promoters

Meanwhile, in a related development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also registered a money laundering case against the promoters of Rotomac Pens. 

The ED officials said that the agency had lodged the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), after studying the CBI FIR that was registered yesterday.

The ED, the officials said, would probe if the funds obtained through the alleged fraud were laundered and if the proceeds of the crime were subsequently used by the accused to create illegal assets and black money. 

This is the second major bank fraud to surface in the recent past after the sensational Rs 11,400-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud, allegedly committed by diamond merchant Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, who is a promoter of the Gitanjali Group of companies. 

Both Modi and Choksi have fled the country. 

(With Agency inputs)