Scamsters in J&K

CBI nets SBI Chief Manager in mulit-crore fraud

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria

Tribune News Service

JAMMU, August 22:

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today conducted simultaneous raids at five places and unearthed multi crore scam allegedly involving a senior banker of State Bank of India (SBI) and two businessmen of the capital city.

Initial investigations worked out the fraud to Rs 18 crores, highly placed sources in the CBI told The Tribune.

They said, if one of the two businessmen with the active connivance of the banker availed a loan of Rs 4 crores in the name of around 12 fictitious firms then the other floated 15 fake firms to avail a loan of Rs 14 crores.They said, the latter also owed a whopping amount of Rs 82 crores to the SBI, adding, in total contravention to the rules huge overdrafts were advanced to the two businessmen in the name of fake firms.The senior banker identified as LA Kachru, Chief Manager of the SBI in Satwari branch and other bank officials, allegedly advanced overdrafts to the firms floated by the two businessmen Satish Gupta, a resident of Gandhi Nagar and Dr Kulbhushan Nahar, a resident of Patel Market, Parade, they added.A senior CBI official said that Dr Kulbhushan Nahar had availed an overdraft of Rs 4 crores for fictitious firms, which he had floated in the name of his sons, father and employees.He runs an Ayurvedic medicine factory and a clinic under the name and style of Humane Clinic in industrial estate of Ashok Nagar from where he had been running his fake firms in one to two small rooms each, he added.From the scrutiny of records involvement of the SBIs Chief Manager LA Kachru could not be ruled out as no formalities whatsoever were followed to advance an overdraft of Rs 4 crores to Dr Kulbhushan, he said.Similarly, the CBI detected another fraud of Rs 14 crores in the same branch, he said.The official said, an overdraft of Rs 14 crores was advanced to the owner of Surya Ved Products Limited, Satish Gupta, resident of Gandhi Nagar.He also owed a whopping amount of Rs 82 crores to the bank, he added.This businessman, who runs his factory in Gangyal area, had also floated 15 fake firms, said the official.However, no arrests were made but we have seized relevant documents from all the five places where sleuths of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had conducted simultaneous raids.The raids were conducted in the factory of Dr Kulbhushan Nahar at Ashok Nagar, at his Patel Market residence, Satish Guptas factory in Gangyal, at his Gandhi Nagar residence and SBI Chief Managers Channi Himmat residence in sector 3.The five teams were headed by the Additional SP, ACB, KL Raina and SSP, MK Bhat supervised the entire operation.ENDS.