CBI Produces Rotomac Owner Vikram Kothari, Son in Court

The two are under the scanner for an alleged loan default of Rs 3,695 crore to a consortium of 7 nationalised banks.

Rotomac Pens owner Vikram Kothari.

(Photo Courtesy: Rotomacpens.com)

The CBI on 23 February produced Rotomac owner Vikram Kothari and his son Rahul before a Delhi court in connection with a Rs 3,695-crore loan default case and sought their transit remand to take them to Lucknow.

The duo was produced before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal.

Defence advocate Pramod Kumar Dubey raised objections to the jurisdiction of the court, saying the accused should be produced before a sessions court and not before a magisterial court.

The court reserved its order till 2 pm on the issue of jurisdiction.

The duo was arrested on 22 February after being questioned by the CBI. The two are under the scanner for an alleged loan default of Rs 3,695 crore to a consortium of seven nationalised banks, officials said in New Delhi on Wednesday, 21 February.

Kothari was earlier being questioned in Kanpur, where his company and residence are located, they said, adding that he and his son Rahul were summoned by the CBI, without elaborating reasons behind the move.

Kothari, his wife Sadhana, and son Rahul, all directors of Rotomac Global Private Limited, had allegedly diverted the loan amount towards purposes other than what they were meant for, officials said.

One of the banks in the consortium, Bank of Baroda, had approached the CBI, requesting an FIR to be lodged against Kothari as it apparently feared that he might leave the country, they added.

The CBI had registered a case on 18 February, following the complaint.

Initially, the alleged scam was estimated to be worth Rs 800 crore, but after the CBI launched its probe into the accounts of Rotomac Global Private Limited, it was found that the company had allegedly taken loans from the Bank of India, the Bank of Maharashtra, the Indian Overseas Bank, the Union Bank of India, the Allahabad bank and the Oriental Bank of Commerce.

The CBI has alleged that the accused cheated a consortium of seven banks by siphoning off loan amounts to the tune of Rs 2,919 crore. The total outstanding amount for the company, along with interest and liabilities, is pegged at Rs 3,695 crore, the probe agency has alleged.

On 20 February, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had notified all the land, sea and airports in the country to prevent the exit of Kothari and his family members from India, in connection with its money laundering probe.

It had also conducted searches at multiple locations in Uttar Pradesh, including in Unnao and Kanpur, to gather evidence in the case.

The ED had slapped criminal charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against the company and its promoters on 18 February, based on a CBI FIR filed on the same day.

The Income Tax department had also attached 14 bank accounts of the pen manufacturer as part of its tax evasion probe against it on Tuesday, 20 February.

I-T Attaches Assets in Kanpur, Ahmedabad

The Income Tax Department on Wednesday, 21 February, said it had attached four immovable assets of the Rotomac group and its promoters in connection with an alleged tax evasion probe against them.

They said the properties, three in Kanpur and one in Ahmedabad, were provisionally attached on 20 February.

These attachment of assets, they said, had been carried out to "recover outstanding tax demands" from the group, understood to be about Rs 85 crore.

(With PTI inputs)

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