look news india
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday took major action and tightened the noose around the investigation in the loan scam of Rs 48.48 crore involving Punjab National Bank (PNB), one of the major public sector banks of the country. In this serious case of financial fraud, CBI’s Bengaluru-based Bank Securities and Fraud Branch (BSFB) conducted a coordinated search operation simultaneously at several locations in Hyderabad, the capital of Telangana and Odisha. The raid was conducted at the residential premises of private sector companies PCH Corporation Ltd, PCH Retail Ltd and their directors.
According to CBI officials, this entire legal action has been initiated on the basis of a formal complaint lodged by the Chennai branch of Punjab National Bank. In its complaint, the bank had alleged that the concerned companies, their directors and some unidentified government employees had hatched a well-planned criminal conspiracy.
Under this conspiracy, PNB directly suffered a financial loss of Rs 48.48 crore in flagrant violation of the bank’s rules and loan agreements. CBI has started investigation in this regard by registering an FIR on serious charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust and embezzlement under sections of the IPC.
The CBI’s preliminary investigation and FIR have revealed the shocking modus operandi of the accused. Under the loan agreement, the entire hypothecated stock of the company was mortgaged with the bank as security.
The directors of the company, with malicious intent, sold the entire stock secretly in the market without giving any information to the lending bank. The biggest fraud was that the huge amount received from the sale of stock was not deposited in the loan account of the bank. Instead, the entire amount was diverted with criminal intent for personal use and other sources, due to which the entire loan of the bank went bankrupt.
During this day-long intensive search operation in Hyderabad and Odisha, special teams of CBI have recovered and seized huge quantities of incriminating documents and digital evidence like hard disks, laptops and mobiles from the offices of the companies and the houses of the promoters.
According to the CBI, these digital devices and financial ledgers are now being forensically analyzed to accurately trace the illicit routes of funds, the web of shell companies and the ultimate beneficiaries of the money. The investigating agency has indicated that based on the clues obtained from the seized documents, raids may be conducted in some other states in the coming days and suspected bank officials will also be interrogated.