Srinagar deputy mayor booked for ‘fraud’

The case was registered a week after the ACB raided the bank’s corporate headquarters. The raids were conducted after Pervaz Ahmad was removed as the bank’s chairman.

Jammu and Kashmir’s Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Saturday registered a case against Srinagar’s deputy mayor and businessman, Shiekh Imran, for misappropriation of crores of rupees.

The ACB said it found that the cost of the project was much lower than the projected cost. (Twitter/@imrankehwah)

Imran, who is the director of Kehwa Square Private Limited, was booked, along with Jammu and Kashmir bank and state government officials, ACB director Anand Jain said. The identities of the officials were not immediately available.

The case was registered a week after the ACB raided the bank’s corporate headquarters. The raids were conducted after Pervaz Ahmad was removed as the bank’s chairman.

“During verification, it was found that Sheikh Imran, Director Kehwa Group of Companies, had submitted a proposal to [the] bank for establishment of CA [controlled atmosphere agricultural] storage at Lassipora [in South Kashmir]. The officials assessed cost of the project to be ~33.00 crore with the subsidy component of ~16.50 crore – 50 percent of estimated project cost,’’ said ACB in a statement.

The ACB said it found that the cost of the project was much lower than the projected cost.

“During enquiry, it also came to light that Kehwa group has six more business units and Imran had raised varied loan facilities and overdrafts for these business units. The loan liabilities accumulated to ~138 crore. Since, one of the companies, Kehwa Square, had turned NPA [non performing asset]… Imran sought one time settlement with the bank which was granted by waving off liabilities of ~33 crore and as one time settlement, Kehwa group was asked to deposit ~105 crore in two instalments to be paid by 25 March 2017,’’ the statement said.