CBI questions Kothari, son in Delhi

Rotomac promoter Vikram Kothari and his son Rahul were on Wednesday questioned at the CBI headquarters in the national capital in connection with the Rs 3,695-crore loan default case, amid speculation that they could be arrested.

Kothari and son were questioned in Kanpur for the past two days but were asked to report in Delhi. CBI sources did not give any reason for such a move.

The father-son duo and Kothari's wife Sadhana were named in an FIR on Sunday following a complaint filed by the Bank of Baroda. The bank had detected the fraud in December but waited for more than a month to file an FIR with the CBI.

In its complaint, the bank had expressed fear that the Kotharis may flee the country, and sought seizure of their passports.

"Since, this account (Rotomac) is of high value in this fraud case, we apprehend that directors/guarantors of the company may escape from the country to skip legal/criminal proceedings. Public money of the bank is at stake..." it said.

The ED has already registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against the company and its promoters based on the CBI FIR. The Income Tax department also attached 14 bank accounts of the pen manufacturer as part of its tax evasion probe against it.