CBI books Hyderabad-based firm for cheating SBI of Rs 218cr

Hyderabad, Feb 2:  The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday said it has registered a case against a Hyderabad-based private firm for allegedly cheating the State Bank of India (SBI) of Rs 218 crore.

An official said that acting on the complaint of SBI's Secunderabad Branch, it has registered a case against a Hyderabad based firm Nandini Industries India Pvt. Ltd. (NIIPL), and others including its Managing Director, Haridass Ramesh; Director Urvashi Ramesh, and unknown public and private persons.

The accused allegedly caused a loss of over Rs 218.21 crore to the State Bank of India by taking loans and diverting it to other entities on the basis of fake invoices.

On Wednesday, the CBI conducted searches at three places in Hyderabad which led to recovery of several incriminating documents.

A senior CBI official said that the private company was initially sanctioned Rs 9.5 crore Fund based limit on September 14, 2007 which was enhanced from time to time based on the working capital requirements of the borrower.

The total Fund based and Non Fund based limits sanctioned to the said company were Rs 89.50 crore.

The loan account was declared as NPA in March 2014 due to non payment of dues to the State Bank of India (SBI).

Out of the total limits, an amount of Rs 54.21 crore was outstanding as on NPA date March 30, 2014. The said amount increased to Rs 172.71 crore in 2019, and to Rs 218.21 crore in 2021 including interest.

"The accused in collusion with their subsidiary companies and others resorted to diversion of loan proceeds and to excess drawings of loan proceeds by submitting inflated invoices to the bank. An alleged loss of Rs 218.21 crore was caused to the SBI," said the CBI official.