The CBI has arrested a Singapore-based man from a hotel near Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport in connection with a `32-crore bank fraud, officials said on Friday. The man, identified as Rajesh Bothra, was traced and picked up by the agency following a tip-off about his arrival in Delhi. The fraud case stems from a complaint by the Punjab National Bank (PNB), which alleged that `31.60 crore were swindled by Frost Infrastructure and Energy Pvt Ltd (FIEL), its directors, unidentified public servants, among others, according to a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) statement.
The agency said the FIEL siphoned off Letter of Credit (LC) proceeds by submitting forged bills of lading, fraudulently depicting trade between the FIEL and two firms — FAREAST and Gulf Distribution Ltd — which belonged to Bothra. It was alleged that the company defrauded the bank by availing the Foreign Letter of Credit (FLC) limit from the bank, it said. “Investigation so far has revealed that Bothra played an active role in the conspiracy with the company FIEL and its directors, by providing bogus bills of lading and falsely showing sale and purchase transactions of the FIEL with FAREAST and Gulf Distribution Ltd,” a CBI spokesperson said.
The bogus bills were submitted by the FIEL to the bank, through which the company siphoned off the LC proceeds, causing a “wrongful loss of approximately `32 crore to PNB”, according to the spokesperson. “Investigation has revealed that FAREAST and Gulf Distribution Ltd were actually controlled and operated by Bothra, and no actual business or movement of goods took place as falsely shown in the forged bills of lading,” the CBI statement said.
Bothra is also an accused in other cases of the CBI’s Anti-Corruption Branch, Lucknow and has been chargesheeted in some of these cases along with other accused persons. “He never joined the investigation in these cases, nor did he appear during the trial. He is wanted in many other bank fraud and economic offence cases,” the statement said. The CBI said the arrest of Bothra will facilitate his examination in the case under investigation, ensure his presence before trial courts in chargesheeted cases and prevent him from evading the process of law by leaving India.
