A CBI court today handed over the custody of Rotomac pens owner Vikram Kothari and his son Rahul Kothari to the investigating agency for 11 days in connection with alleged loan default to the tune of Rs 3,695 crore. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today produced the Kotharis in the court of special judge M P Chaudhari after bringing them here on transit remand from Delhi. The judge first took them in judicial custody and later remanded them in CBI custody for 11 days. Both Vikram Kothari and his son have been booked for cheating a consortium of seven nationalised banks. Vikram Kothari's wife Sadhna Kothari is also accused in the case. The CBI arrested the father-son duo on Thursday in Delhi after the agency alleged the accused were not cooperating with the probe. On a complaint of Bank of Baroda, the CBI had registered an FIR against the Kotharis for allegedly defaulting on loans taken by Rotomac Global Private Ltd. from the consortium of banks from 2008 onwards. The banks had extended loans worth Rs 2,919 crore to the company and the amount swelled to Rs 3,695 crore, including the accrued interest, because of repeated defaults on payment by the company, the agency has claimed. The CBI initiated the action on the complaint of Bank of Baroda, a member of the consortium led by Bank of India, which had approached the agency fearing that Vikram Kothari might flee India after billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi and owner of Gitanjali Gems Mehul Choksi reportedly left India before the registration of a case against them. Modi and Choksi are the two main accused in the alleged Rs 11,400-crore Punjab National Bank scam. In the Rotomac case, the principal exposure of the banks regarding the loan is Bank of India Rs 754.77 crore, Bank of Baroda Rs 456.63 crore, Overseas Bank of India Rs 771.07 crore, Union Bank of India Rs 458.95 crore, Allahabad Bank Rs 330.68 crore, Bank of Maharashtra 49.82 crore and Oriental Bank of Commerce Rs 97.47 crore, the agency has said. Yesterday, a Delhi court allowed one-day transit remand to the CBI to take Vikram Kothari and his son Rahul to Lucknow to produce them before a court there in connection with the case, saying their presence in Uttar Pradesh was required to recover the alleged siphoned-off money. While seeking their transit remand, the CBI had claimed that it needed to recover the crime proceeds and unearth the larger conspiracy.
The agency sought the remand "to produce the accused before the competent court of M P Chaudhary, special judge, Lucknow, in the interest of justice". Advocate Pramod Kumar Dubey, appearing for the Kotharis, had opposed the CBI plea, saying the accused were "illegally detained".
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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