Silvassa firm accused of duping banks of Rs 160 crore

Silvassa firm accused of duping banks of Rs 160 crore
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CBI has filed two cases against Eskay K’n’it (India) following complaints filed by Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has initiated two probes against a Silvassa based manufacturing firm for allegedly defrauding the Mumbai-based branches of the Bank of India (BOI) and the Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) to the tune of over Rs 91 crore and over Rs 69 crore, respectively.

The firm, Eskay K’n’it (India) Ltd has been accused of misrepresentations, diversion and siphoning of funds and causing losses to the banks, agency sources said. The firm manufactures knitted fabrics and cotton yarn. The CBI registered the cases against the firm, its top officials and “unknown public servants” on the basis of complaints received from BOI and IOB.

“BOI alleged that it has been defrauded to the tune of Rs 91. 36 crore by the firm as part of a criminal conspiracy hatched between 2008 and 2014 pertaining to sanctioned workingcapital limit,” said a CBI source. “The company is accused of inflating its sales figures and it is suspected that certain transactions cited by the firm may not be genuine,” the source said.


Further, the firm allegedly did not pledge the required 51per cent shareholding and instead offered only 5.68 per cent by concealing material information, according to the source. The source said, “The probe will verify allegations that the firm’s directors had utilised the funds obtained from the bank for non-sanctioned purposes and also misrepresented details related to its manufacturing capacity.”

The agency is also verifying allegations that the firm misappropriated money from the sale of scrapped spindles. According to the CBI, multiple transactions were allegedly routed through interested entities for siphoning of funds. The CBI case was registered under sections related to offences like criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery for purpose of cheating, using forged document as genuine, falsification of accounts and criminal misconduct by unknown public servants.


In the IOB case, too, CBI slapped similar charges against Eskay K’n’it.