A case has been filed against Rotomac Pens promoter Vikram Kothari and others for allegedly cheating a consortium of public sector banks of Rs 3695 Crore by defaulting on loans he had earlier for his business. The loan default was earlier estimated at Rs 800 Crore, however, an investigation of documents by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) revealed that the amount is much larger than anticipated. Teams from the agency conducted raids at several locations in Kanpur and questioned Kothari, his son and wife.
The CBI said that Rotomac cheated a group of seven banks by siphoning off bank loans to the tune of Rs 2919 Crore, excluding interest. The total outstanding amount along with interest liabilities for the company is Rs 3695 Crore. CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal informed that no arrests have been made in the case yet. Meanwhile, money laundering case has also been registered against Kothari and his family in connection with the Enforcement Directorate, with the alleged bank loan fraud.
Officials said the ED 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. According to the CBI's FIR copy, loan exposure of the banks are, Bank of India- Rs 754.77 Crore, Bank of Baroda- Rs 456.63 Crore, Indian Overseas Bank- Rs 771.07 Crore, Union Bank of India- Rs 458.95 Crore, Allahabad Bank- Rs 330.68 Crore, Bank of Maharashtra- Rs 49.82 Crore, and Oriental Bank of Commerce- Rs 97.47 Crore.
