Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday conducted search operations at offices of Kingfisher Airlines and its promoter Vijay Mallya's offices in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Goa on five premises.
CBI sources said the raids were connected to the case of a Rs. 900 crore loan that IDBI Bank had provided Kingfisher Airlines, during its financial crisis after it had turned a defaulter.
In an official statement, CBI spokesperson said: “A case has been registered against Vijay Mallya. Director of M/s. Kingfisher Airlines Ltd., A Raghunathan, CFO of the said firm and other unknown officials of IDBI Bank for allegedly violating banking norms in sanction and disbursement of credit limits of Rs. 900 crore (approximate).”
CBI probing non-performing assets of public sector banks, had initiated a preliminary inquiry into the loan to Kingfisher Airlines when the company was in financial distress. Kingfisher Airlines suspended its operations in 2012, after running into financial troubles.
CBI had sought an explanation from the IDBI Bank officials on the rationale for sanctioning the loan, to which reportedly the bank officials failed to to defend their decision to CBI's satisfaction.
CBI sources confirmed that pursuing their preliminary inquiry into the case, a FIR was registered recently and the search operations on Saturday were part of the investigation.
