CBI files FIRs against Mamata Banerjee’s once close associate and 4 others in Rs 515 crore bank fraud

A day after the Finance Ministry directed all public sector banks (PSUs) to identify bad loans and report to investigative agencies, Canara Bank along with nine other member banks of consortium on Wednesday lodged a complaint with Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against a businessman once closed to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and three others.

The CBI after receiving the complaint filed an FIR against four people for defrauding banks of Rs 515.15 crore and unknown bank officials. FIR has been lodged for criminal conspiracy, forgery, cheating and misconduct with public servants.

The banks in their complaint informed the CBI that the fraud took place between 2012 and 2013. They also told the CBI that they later learnt that the four accused had availed bank finance by submitting fabricated debtors/receivables/inflated stock statements.

Also read | PNB Scam: CBI issues look out circulars against 10 executives of Nirav Modi firm

Four persons named in the FIR are Kolkata based businessmen. They have been identified as Shivaji Panja, Kaustav Chatterjee, Vinay Bafna and Debnath Pal.

CBI sources said Panja, Chatterjee and Bafna are directors of the RP Info Systems, while Pal is designated as vice president (finance) in the company.  The company was into manufacturing and trading of laptops and desktops under brand name Chirag.

Panja, was known to be close to be close to the Trinamool Congress chief Banerjee. He was sighted campaigning during 2011 assembly elections. However, he is not seen in her company in recent years.