Kanpur, January 19: After billionaire diamantaire, Nirav Modi, another defaulter Vikram Kothari, the owner of Rotomac Pens is under Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) scanner. Kothari is reported to have swindled more than Rs 800 crore from the various public-sector banks. Reports state that the Kanpur-based company's owner had taken a loan from over five state-owned banks. The Enforcement Directorate on Monday registered a case against Kothari under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, an Act of the Parliament of India.

Meanwhile, the CBI on Monday also registered a case against Rotomac Global Pvt Ltd, its Directors - Vikram Kothari, Sadhana Kothari, Rahul Kothari - and unknown bank officials on a complaint from Bank of Baroda.

The sleuths of central investigation agency were also conducted raids at Kothari’s residence in Kanpur and raids were being conducted at two other locations linked with the promoter of Rotomac Pens. “It was alleged in the complaint that in the Rotomac case, conspirators cheated a consortium of 7 banks by siphoning off bank loans to the tune of Rs 2919 crore (principal amount). This does not include the interest liabilities of these loans”, CBI said in a statement. The CBI further informed that the total outstanding amount, along with interest liabilities for Rotomac is Rs. 3695 crore.

CBI is conducting searches at three places in Kanpur and questioning all the three accused Directors - Vikram Kothari, Sadhana Kothari & Rahul Kothari. CBI has also sealed residential premises and an office of Rotomac Directors in New Delhi. As per reports, Rotomac was declared a "willful defaulter" by the Bank of Baroda, vide an order dated February 27, 2017 passed by an authorised committee, as per the procedure laid down by the Reserve Bank of India. The company moved the Allahabad High Court seeking removal of its name from the list of the wilful defaulter.  Reacting to media reports that he had fled the country to evade arrest, Kothari issue a statement on Sunday saying he was in Kanpur.

The fresh scam comes less than a week after Punjab National Bank (PNB) had detected a USD 1.77 billion (about Rs 11,400 crore) scam. Since the past week, Kothari's office in Kanpur's City Centre has been locked while the bank authorities are mulling auctioning to recover the amount.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 19, 2018 03:56 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).