The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has lodged an FIR against close relatives of transport minister Chandrika Rai for alleged involvement in a banking fraud case.
The names of Rai’s elder brother Bidhan Chandra Rai, sister-in-law Kavita Rai and distant relative Abhishek Rai — who is director with a private automobile company — figure in the FIR lodged by the Patna branch of the CBI on Wednesday.
Apart from the minister’s relatives, Arvind Narayan Singh and Kumar Abhishek, both managers with the Union Bank of India, have been booked under sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) of the IPC and sections 13 (2) read with 13(1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
They have been accused of causing loss of Rs 43 crore in 2016 under a conspiracy hatched with the connivance of the officials posted with the Fraser Road branch of the bank.
Rai said he had nothing to do with the case lodged against his brother and other relatives.
“I don’t have any business relationship with my elder brother, who has been made accused in the case,” the minister told The Telegraph.
Bidhan and Chandrika are sons of former chief minister Daroga Prasad Rai.
According to the FIR, a savings bank account was opened without an account opening form and KYC (know your customer) documents in the name of Sudhir Kumar and Kaushalya Devi on January 28, 2016.
An amount of Rs 3.85 crore was debited from the sanctioned loan account of Sudhir Kumar and the amount was credited to the saving account of Sudhir Kumar and Kaushalya Devi with the Union Bank of India located on Ashiana-Digha road, the CBI alleged.
The amount was transferred to the savings account of Sudhir and Kaushalya the same day. The same day, an amount of Rs 3.64 crore was credited to the overdraft bank account of M/s Sonali Autos Private Limited with the Union Bank of India’s Fraser Road branch, according to the FIR.
The transaction was carried out on the basis of a debit voucher with the signature of Kaushalya Devi. Bidhan Rai, Kavita Rai and Abhishek Rai are directors of M/s Sonali Autos Private Limited, which runs a Mahindra showroom in Anishabad.
The account of M/s Sonali Autos Private Limited had an overdraft facility of Rs 43 crore. The account of the firm was provided the overdraft facility despite it being an inactive account. The then branch manager, Arvind Narayan Singh, the FIR alleged, accommodated the account by transferring the amount of Rs 3.64 crore on January 28, 2016, to maintain the credit limit of the overdraft account below Rs 43 crore so as to maintain the credit limit in the overdraft account.
Subsequently, an amount of Rs 60 lakh was debited to the loan account of Sudhir Kumar and credited to the account of Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd maintained at Standard Chartered Bank, MG Road branch, Mumbai, without the signature of either Sudhir Kumar or Kaushalya Devi. The money was transferred through a voucher dated June 16, 2016, the CBI FIR said.
Though the loan was sanctioned to Sudhir Kumar, the instalment of the loan was paid by M/s Sonali Autos Private Ltd through cheques bearing the signature of Abhishek Rai, one of the three directors of M/s Sonali Autos Private Ltd.
The FIR stated: “The acts revealed the commission of offence by the branch manager Arvind Narayan Singh, manager (credit) Kumar Anand, M/s Sonali Autos and its directors. All of them entered into a criminal conspiracy with one another and other unknown persons for diverting sanctioned loan amount in the name of Sudhir Kumar for corresponding wrongful gains of M/s Sonili Autos Private Ltd and its directors and thereby cheated Sudhir Kumar and caused wrongful loss to the bank.”
The FIR against Bidhan and others was lodged by the CBI two weeks after the agency filed a corruption case FIR against RJD chief Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi and their son and deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav.
