CBI Arrests Tirupati Infraprojects MD In Rs 289 Crore Bank Fraud Case

New Delhi:

The CBI has arrested Jag Mohan Garg, chairman and managing director of Tirupati Infraprojects Private Limited, in a Rs 289.15 crore bank fraud case, officials said on Monday.

It has been alleged that the company illegally diverted loan funds which it had taken for a high-end hotel project in west Delhi.

Garg was produced before a special CBI court that sent him to the agency’s custody till July 13, the officials said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered an FIR against the company on May 25, 2022, for allegedly causing a loss to the tune of Rs 289.15 crore (as per figures in 2014 when the account was declared NPA) to a consortium of public sector banks led by the Bank of India by illegally diverting loan funds, the officials said.

The other banks in the consortium are the Union Bank of India, the Canara Bank, the Bank of Baroda and the UCO Bank.

The Bank of India has alleged that the cumulative loss suffered by banks has spiralled over Rs 979 crore as on December 13, 2021, owing to accumulating dues.  The consortium of banks granted a term loan of Rs 300 crore to the company between 2009 and 2014 for the construction of Hotel Radisson Blu at Paschim Vihar, New Delhi, along with commercial spaces.

The company had started showing stress in 2012, and after several efforts to salvage the account, it turned into a non-performing asset (NPA) in 2014, the bank has alleged in its complaint.  It alleged that the company, its promoters, and its directors, with dishonest intentions, have caused wrongful loss to lending banks and wrongful gain to themselves by employing fraudulent and suspicious transactions, mainly by diversion and siphoning off the income generated from the project.

In its complaint, the Bank of India also said that they (Tirupati Infraprojects) entered into a sale agreement with third parties without the consent of the lending banks and falsified statements, pointed out by the forensic auditor appointed by the banks.

“It was further alleged that the accused had sold several commercial/retail/office spaces of the said hotel-cum-commercial building to various parties without intimating the lender banks, and funds obtained from these buyers were diverted/siphoned off,” a CBI spokesperson said in a statement.

After the registration of the FIR, the central agency conducted searches at the premises of the accused on May 27 last year, leading to the recovery of several incriminating documents.

“During the investigation, the CBI had examined several witnesses, officials of the borrower company, bank officials, etc.,” the spokesperson said.

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