Government sources said it was the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) that first sought a probe into the matter. (Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal)
On a day the Congress alleged that that the owner of Vadodara-based Diamond Power Infrastructure Ltd (DPIL), booked by the CBI for cheating banks to the tune of Rs 2,654 crore, has “active connection” with some senior BJP leaders, government sources said it was the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) that first sought a probe into the matter.
Last week, CBI registered a criminal case against DPIL, dealing in electric cable and equipment, and its directors — S N Bhatnagar and his sons Amit and Sumit — for allegedly cheating various banks to the tune of Rs 2,654 crore.
The central agency also conducted searches on the premises of the company and its directors in Vadodara. The CBI alleged that DPIL “through its management, (had) fraudulently availed credit facilities from a consortium of 11 banks (both public and private) since 2008, leaving behind an outstanding debt of Rs 2,654.40 crore as on June 29, 2016.”
The loan, it said, was declared a non-performing asset in 2016-17. The company and its directors managed to get the term loans and credit facilities in spite of the fact that they were named in the Reserve Bank of India’s defaulter’s list and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation’s (ECGC) caution list at the time of the initial sanction of credit limits by the consortium, the agency alleged.
Government sources said a grievance letter regarding the allegations was received by PMO, which on March 6 asked CBI and ED to probe the matter. The agencies, following the probe, shared details with various divisions of the Finance Ministry such as Department of Financial Services, CBDT, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, sources said.
Sources said the Finance Ministry also directed the banks to furnish full details and to file an FIR with the CBI. This was followed by the Bank Of India approaching CBI with a complaint — a week after the PMO first sent a letter on this case.
On March 20, sources said, the government wrote a second letter to agencies concerned to ensure better coordination on the case.