The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case against Mumbai-based Octamec Engineering Limited, its managing director and others for allegedly cheating the Indian Bank of about ₹209 crore.
Among those named in the FIR are the company’s managing director, Navin Chandra Hegde, and directors Sovin N. Hegde and Samarth N. Hegde. Unknown bank officials are also under the scanner.
The bank, which financed the company under a consortium arrangement, has said that the accused persons induced the banks into granting credit facilities by suppressing various facts.
The company dealt in the design and manufacture of space frame structure. It was the main supplier to the Airport Authority of India, Air India, Central Public Works Department, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Vodafone Limited, BHEL and other companies, according to the case.
The Indian Bank extended credit facilities to the company from August 2009 onwards. It had also received loans from the UCO Bank and the Axis Bank, which were taken over by the Indian Bank in consortium with the Union Bank of India. The accounts became non-performing assets (NPA) in August 2013, allegedly due to large-scale diversion of funds for unstated purposes.
The other banks which had joined the consortium were the State Bank of India, the Bank of Baroda and the Standard Chartered Bank. The total loans were to the tune of ₹340 crore. The loan accounts were declared a fraud in April 2018.
The bank, in its complaint, expressed suspicion that a part of the funds was used to buy a duplex flat in Mumbai for ₹12.76 crore, through an associate concern, Safintra Roofing (India) Limited. The accused had also bought a land in the name of wholly-owned subsidiary Octamec Building Systems Limited.
The bank has requested the CBI that the accused persons not be allowed to leave the country and that their passports be impounded or blocked as a precautionary measure.
Published - August 20, 2020 04:20 am IST
