The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case against R.P. Basmati Rice and others for allegedly cheating a consortium of the State Bank of India (SBI) and the Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), causing a loss of ₹220.98 crore.
The agency has also named Anuj Singhal, Raj Pal Singhal, Sumitra, Bharat, Naveen Kumar, Ishwar Chand Singla and Gangaram Mukhiya as accused in the FIR, registered on a complaint from the SBI.
The accused company, which is based in Haryana’s Karnal, exported goods to the Middle East countries and Europe under various brands and also had about 50 domestic dealers. It took credit facilities under a consortium arrangement. From May 2016 onwards, the company did not submit any stock statement.
The loan account was declared non-performing asset in September 2016. The fraud came to light during a forensic audit of the check period, based on which a report was submitted to the bank in October 2018. It was reported to the Reserve Bank of India in April this year by the SBI.
The audit revealed alleged diversion of funds to the tune of ₹106.16 crore to related parties. The company had shown a related party, Paras Foods, as debtor of ₹65.23 crore. It also claimed ₹40.93 crore outstanding against Sheeba International, Rajpal Bharat Kumar, R.P. Gums and Chemicals Limited and R.P. Welltar Limited.
Inflated stock
According to the FIR, the company diverted funds drawn from cash credit accounts by submitting inflated stock and book debt statements. It also made transactions outside consortium banks, involving a total outflow of ₹65.78 crore and inflow of ₹64.99 crore. The major inflows in the accounts were from related parties like Keshav International, Bharat Hospitals, Runicha International and R.P. Educational Trust.
The audit report also revealed that the net outflows of ₹73.73 crore to the traders of Naya Bazar in Delhi shown in the accounts, despite the fact that their TIN numbers were cancelled, were merely book entries and not actual purchases, it is alleged.
Besides, transactions with net outflows of ₹83.32 crore and inflows of ₹39.15 crore were shown with non-existent entities. The funds were also diverted through circular movement of funds, the FIR alleged.
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