Rotomac Chief, Son Sent to Transit Remand, IT Seizes 12 Accounts
A CBI court on 23 February sent Rotomac owner Vikram Kothari and his son Rahul to one-day transit.
A CBI court on 23 February sent Rotomac owner Vikram Kothari and his son Rahul to one-day transit remand, while the Income Tax department seized 12 bank accounts of the group and issued six prosecution against the businessman in connection with the Rs 3,695 crore loan default.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal at the Patiala House courts passed an order for a day's remand after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sought a two-day transit remand to take the father and son to Lucknow. The duo will be produced before the court concerned in Lucknow on 24 February.
Kothari and his son were arrested on Thursday 22 February for an alleged default on loan repayment. This came after four days of questioning since the day the CBI filed the case against them and raided their residential and office premises in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur.
Defence advocate Pramod Kumar Dubey had raised objections about jurisdiction of the court, saying that the accused should be produced before a sessions court, and not before a magisterial court.
The court then reserved its order till 2 pm on the issue of jurisdiction.
The agency filed the FIR on 18 February night after getting a complaint against Kothari, his wife Sadhana and son Rahul, from the Bank of Baroda.
Kothari is the Chairman and Managing Director of Rotomac while his wife and son are Directors.
Kothari had allegedly obtained Rs 2,919 crore from Bank of India (Rs 754.77 crore), Bank of Baroda (Rs 456.63 crore), Indian Overseas Bank (Rs 771.07 crore), Union Bank of India (Rs 458.95 crore), Allahabad Bank (Rs 330.68 crore), Bank of Maharashtra (Rs 49.82 crore) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (Rs 97.47 crore), the FIR said.
Kothari, his wife, son, firm Rotomac, some unidentified bank officials, and private persons were booked on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, and forgery under the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act.
The Bank of Baroda complaint said that the banks had extended credit to the Kanpur-based firm and its related companies from 2008 onwards. The CBI had earlier confiscated several belongings of Kothari and his family, including laptops and mobile phones.
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