New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), the central investigation agency, has arrested five key accused in the bank scam case of around Rs 56,000 crore involving M/s Bhushan Steel Limited Company and its directors. The arrested accused will be produced in the special ED court on January 12 and the agency will seek their remand for further interrogation.
The arrested accused
The five accused who have been arrested by the ED are:
- Ajay Mittal, a director of M/s Bhushan Steel Limited Company
- Archana Mittal, the sister of Neeraj Singhal, the managing director of the company
- Nitin Johri, the former chief financial officer of the company
- Prem Tiwari, the former vice president of the company
- Prem Aggarwal, another former vice president of the company
The modus operandi of the fraud
The ED took over the case from the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), which had filed a charge sheet against the company and its directors for defrauding several banks of crores of rupees. The ED is investigating the matter related to money laundering and the role of the company’s managing director Neeraj Singhal and his associates.
According to the ED, the company’s managing director and his associates created several shell companies and diverted the money taken from the banks through them. They then showed losses in the project for which the loan was taken and defaulted on the repayment.
The recovery of assets and cash
The ED arrested Neeraj Singhal, the managing director of the company, on June 9, 2023, and attached many movable and immovable properties related to the company after finding evidence and recording statements of witnesses. The properties worth about Rs 61.38 crore are located in Assam, Raigarh, Faridabad, and Haryana and have a much higher market value today.
The ED also seized cash worth about Rs 72 lakh, foreign currency worth about Rs 52 lakh, travel cheques, and three very expensive cars during a search operation on October 13, 2023, at various locations in Delhi, Haryana, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bhubaneswar, etc.
