Chairman of the Kolkata-based Ruia Group Pawan Ruia was arrested from his Delhi residence on Saturday by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal police for alleged theft of railway equipment from the Jessop factory.
Mr. Ruia was arrested after the Indian Railways registered a case with the Dum Dum police here, alleging theft of goods and machinery worth Rs. 50 crore from the Jessop factory premises.
The Railways had entered into an agreement with Jessop & Co Ltd. for manufacturing railway coaches. Senior CID officers said that
Mr. Ruia has been booked under Sections 420, 409 and 406 of the Indian Penal Code (cheating and criminal breach of trust) and will be brought to Kolkata on transit remand.
Earlier, the CID had issued summons to Mr. Ruia, but he had failed to appear. Later, he approached the Calcutta High Court seeking anticipatory bail in but the Court rejected the appeal.
Ties between the industrialist, who took over a number of sick and ailing public sector units in West Bengal, and the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) government turned sour after some State Ministers blamed him for a fire mishap in the Jessop factory premises in early October and for incidents of machinery thefts from the Jessop factory.
Earlier this year, two legislations were aimed at giving the State government managerial control over these two ventures. “Mr Pawan K. Ruia does not hold any position in Jessop & Co Ltd. He is neither a director, nor a shareholder of the Company. He is not even an occupier of any of the Jessop premises,” a statement issued by Ruia Group spokesperson stated. “We fail to understand how can Mr. Ruia be dragged into the case. We will contest the charges,” the statement added.
