CBI searches 187 locations in 35 bank fraud cases

The CBI on Tuesday conducted searches at 187 locations across the country, including Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, in connection with 35 bank fraud cases involving misappropriation of around Rs 7,200 crore.

After registering 42 cases, the searches were conducted in states and UTs like Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, MP, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telengana, UP, Uttarakhand and Dadra and Nager Haveli.

Out of these 42 cases, there are four cases of more than Rs 1,000 crore and 11 cases of fraud amount of Rs 100 crore to Rs 1,000 crore.

In these states, the searches were conducted in cities Delhi, Bhopal, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Dehradun, Noida, Baramati, Mumbai, Thane, Silvassa, Kalyan, Amritsar, Faridabad, Bengaluru, Tirupur, Chennai, Madurai, Kollam, Kochi, Bhavnagar, Surat, Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Chandauli, Bhatinda, Gurdaspur, Morena, Kolkata, Patna, Krishna and Hyderabad.

The cases are related to Andhra Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Indian Overseas Bank, SBI, Allahabad Bank, Canara Bank, Dena Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India, Union Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of Maharashtra and Bank of India.

In an FIR, Bengaluru-based Opto Circuits is accused of siphoning off Rs 354.32 crore from SBI while in one of the cases in Delhi, an FIR has been registered against M/s Advance Surfactants India Ltd for allegedly cheating the SBI of Rs 118.49 crore.

Another FIR filed was against Ludhiana-based SEL Manufacturing Company Ltd for allegedly siphoning of funds to the tune of Rs 113.55 crore from Bank of Maharashtra. In Madurai, the Sunshine Estate was in the dock for allegedly causing a loss of Rs 15.54 crore to the PNB.

Maharashtra-based Eskay Knit India also faced CBI investigations following complaints from Dena Bank claiming that the firm siphoned off funds to the tine of Rs 42.16 crore.

In a complaint filed by Canara Bank, Krishna Knitwear Technology Ltd faced an FIR for siphoning off Rs 27.75 crore while KSL Industries is facing trouble following a complaint by Allahabad Bank which claimed that it has lost Rs 156.93 crore.