4-day CBI remand for Syndicate Bank CMD

Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Syndicate Bank Sudhir Kumar Jain and seven others were on Sunday remanded in the CBI custody for four days as the investigation agency plans to probe various other angles of the corruption case.

The CBI hopes that new angles may emerge from the telephonic transcripts of the official and conduits.

After completing necessary formalities, the CBI placed Jain and seven others — Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Prakash Industries Ved Prakash Agarwal and Director Vipul Agarwal, Chartered Accountant Pawan Bansal, Vineet and Puneet Godha (relatives of Jain), Vijay Pahuja and Pankaj Bansal under arrest. They were produced before a magistrate who remanded them in CBI custody for four days, official sources said.

Jain was arrested by CBI on Saturday for allegedly negotiating with Bushan Steel for an illegal gratification of Rs 50 lakh in return for granting credit extension to the company though it had defaulted on the payment of loan installments amounting to crores of rupees to the bank.

Vice-Chairman of the company Neeraj Singhal, who is named in the FIR and is since absconding, is alleged to have made the payment through a conduit, Purushotam Totlani, to Vineet Godha, brother-in-law of Jain. The conduit is also absconding and the CBI hopes to nab the two soon.

CBI claimed to have recovered cash to the tune of Rs 21 lakh from Jain’s residence besides gold worth Rs 1.68 crore and fixed deposits of up to Rs 63 lakh.  The entire racket was busted after CBI monitored the activities of Jain for the last six months. The top secret operation, which was being monitored by CBI Director Ranjit Sinha, came to an end after the alleged “deal” was struck by the company with the bank CMD.

The CBI has registered two cases against Jain and 11 others, including CMD and Directors of two private firms based in Delhi — Bushan Steel and Prakash Industries — in a bribery case.