CBI raids 187 locations over bank fraud cases worth Rs 7,200 crore

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) carried out searches at 187 locations across the country on Tuesday in connection with various bank fraud cases. The raids were carried out in connection with 42 bank fraud cases amounting to Rs 7,200 crore.

The locations raided were across Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, MP, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telengana, UP, Uttarakhand, and Dadra & Nager Haveli.

A CBI official stated that the raids were carried out simultaneously on Tuesday morning. The banks involved (including consortium members) were Andhra Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Indian Overseas Bank, SBI, Allahabad Bank, Canara Bank, Dena Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India, Union Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of Maharashtra and Bank of India. Similar searches in bank fraud cases were carried out in the last few months.  

"Out of these 42 cases, there are 4 cases of more than Rs 1,000 crore and 11 cases of fraud amount of Rs 100 crore to Rs 1000 crore," according to a statement issued by the CBI.

The prominent cases registered include, a case against a Bhopal-based private company and its 5 Directors, Guarantors and unknown public servants on the allegations that they engaged in bulk trading of agro commodities, in connivance with unknown bank officials and others fraudulently availed credit facilities of Rs 6,000 crore from SBI, Bhopal by resorting to falsification of accounts and forgery of documents, such as bill of lading, falsely showing movement of goods etc. The company allegedly siphoned off the funds & defaulted in payment of the dues and caused loss of Rs 1,266.63 crore to the bank, as statement noted.

In the recent PMC Bank case, the lender had created more than 21,000 fictitious accounts to cover up Rs 4,300 crore of loans to the almost-bankrupt HDIL. HDIL promoters, Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan, PMC Bank Managing Director Joy Thomas, Chairman Waryam Singh and Director SS Arora were arrested by the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police.

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