Police remand of ex-bank director extended

A Delhi court on Monday extended for seven days the police remand of a former Andhra Bank director in a money laundering case connected with alleged ₹5,000 crore bank fraud case involving Gujarat-based Sandesara group company Sterling Biotech Limited (SBL).

Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma extended the remand of Anup Prakash Garg to custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) when counsel for the agency submitted that the extension was required for further investigation. The ED had arrested him on January 12 and lodged a money laundering case against him on the basis of a CBI FIR in the matter.

It had alleged that certain entries in a diary seized by the Income Tax Department in 2011 had come to its notice during investigation. These entries showed cash payments of nearly ₹1.52 crore to him by the Sandesara brothers between 2008 and 2009. Various cash payments were made to Mr. Garg, as reflected in the entries, on instructions of the brothers by withdrawing cash from the accounts of several

benami companies owned by them, the ED alleged. It charged that Mr. Garg infused several crores of unaccounted money in Kolkata-based bogus shell companies in order to launder the proceeds of crime obtained by him from the Sandesaras. The CBI has booked SBL, its directors Chetan Jayantilal Sandesara, Dipti Chetan Sandesara, Rajbhushan Omprakash Dixit, Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara and Vilas Joshi, chartered accountant Hemant Hathi, Mr. Garg and others in connection with the case. The CBI has alleged that the group companies had taken loans of over ₹5,000 crore from a consortium led by Andhra Bank, which later turned into non-performing assets.