Bizman remanded to ED custody in bank fraud case

A special court has remanded the chairperson and managing director (CMD) of Vindhyavasini Steel Corporation Pvt Ltd (VSCPL), Vijay Rajendraprasad Gupta, to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) till April 2, in a bank fraud case.

MUMBAI: A special court has remanded the chairperson and managing director (CMD) of Vindhyavasini Steel Corporation Pvt Ltd (VSCPL), Vijay Rajendraprasad Gupta, to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) till April 2, in a bank fraud case.

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The ED submitted that the company had acquired credit facilities and loans from the State Bank of India (SBI), using forged documents such as an inflated Memorandum of Understanding, forged technical economic viability reports, and inflated valuation reports of properties. The prosecution claimed that Gupta had bribed auditors to create false accounts, contending that the company had generated proceeds of crime amounting to ₹764.44 crore.

The special public prosecutor submitted that the ED required Gupta’s custody to identify assets generated from the proceeds of crime, the beneficiaries of the proceeds of crime, and those who assisted him in generating these proceeds.

Gupta’s advocate contended that in the predicate offence registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), the investigation was complete, and Gupta had been granted bail. The defence also argued that of a loan amount of ₹155 crore disbursed to Ruby Mills Ltd, Gupta had taken back ₹54 crore since the transaction was never completed. He subsequently transferred the money to SBI. The court, however, said it could not consider the argument as there were no documents to support it.

Special judge AC Daga, in an order passed on Thursday, said the remand report showed that Gupta was prima facie involved in generating, layering and siphoning of the proceeds of crime. The court said this was a fit case for granting custody to the ED.