The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered three cases against 22 persons, including companies, for causing loss of over ₹120 crore to the Punjab National Bank (PNB).
Two cases have been registered against Linkson International, Linkson Ispat and Energies Private Limited, associated companies and their directors.
In these cases, the PNB had taken over the loan portfolios of Linkson International from State Bank of Indore and that of Linkson Ispat and Energies Private Limited in August 2007. However, due to alleged non-payment of dues, both the accounts were declared non-performing assets in 2014, causing a total loss of more than ₹90 crore.
Based on the complaints lodged by the bank, the CBI has booked top functionaries of the two companies, besides Lyra Housing and Finance Limited, Trimurty Commercial P Limited and Linkson Coal & Minerals P Limited, according to the FIRs.
In another case, the agency has booked Global Trading Solutions Limited (Bhubaneswar), its managing director Abhinash Mohanty, former directors Kaushik Mohanty and Anshuman Samantaray, and director Bidhubhusan Nayak.
The then PNB Chief Manager Nagmani Satyanarayana Prasad, Assistant General Manager S.C. Sharma, Chief Manager Manoranjan Dash and Senior Manager Priyotosh Das have also been named.
Conducts searches
“The CBI has conducted searches on the premises of the accused persons in Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, Jammu, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack,” said a CBI official.
It is alleged that the PNB officials concerned conspired with the company’s directors to commit cheating in the processing, sanctioning and disbursing of cash credit facility, bill discounting and issuing letters of credit during 2010-15, causing a loss of ₹31.92 core. The funds were diverted to other group companies, it has been alleged.
