CBI arrests Rotomac's director Vikram Kothari, his son Rahul Kothari in Rs 3400-crore loan default case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths on Thursday evening  arrested Rotomac Pens promoter Vikram Kothari and his son Rahul Kothari from Kanpur in connection with alleged loan default of Rs 3,695 crore towards a consortium of seven nationalised banks.

The sleuths of the agency on Wednesday had questioned Kothari at his Kanpur office and residence.

Kothari, his wife Sadhana and son Rahul, all Directors in Rotomac Global pvt Ltd had allegedly diverted the bank loans towards purposes other than they were meant for, officials said.

One of the consortium members, Bank of Baroda had approached the CBI requesting an FIR against Kothari as the bank apparently feared he along with family might leave the country.

The CBI had registered a case against Kothari and his family members after receiving the complaint on on February 18 .

Initially, the alleged scam was estimated to be of Rs 800 crore but after the CBI started probe into the accounts of the  Rotomac Global Private Limited the amount was found to be Rs Rs 3400 crore.  The CBI found that the company had allegedly taken loans from Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Indian Overseas Bank, Union Bank of India, Allahabad ank and Oriental Bank of Commerce.

Also read: CBI begins questioning of Rotomac owner Kothari accused of Rs 3,700-Crore fraud

The Income Tax department had also attached 14 bank accounts of the pen manufacturer as part of its tax evasion probe against the company yesterday.

This is the second major bank fraud to surface in the recent past after the sensational Rs 11,400-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud, allegedly committed by diamond merchant Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, who is a promoter of the Gitanjali Group of companies.