New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has charged the sister and nephew of former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath in a case of alleged fraud of approximately Rs 354 crore involving entertainment company Moser Baer, ThePrint has learnt.
The federal probe agency, which is mandated to probe bank fraud cases, has charged Nath’s sister Nita Puri, a director of the company, her son Ratul — a former executive director — and several other people with cheating and criminal conspiracy.
The case originated from a complaint by the Central Bank of India on 16 August 2019 alleging that Moser Baer and its directors and promoters had caused unlawful losses to the bank to the tune of Rs 354.51 crore as on 29 November 2014.
Sources in the agency told ThePrint that a chargesheet was filed on 13 June under Sections 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code charging Yogesh Bahadur Mathur, the former chief financial officer of Moser Baer India Ltd, Naresh Jand, its former executive vice president-finance, deputy general manager-finance Ajai Sehgal and others besides the Puri family. The company is under liquidation.
The CBI on 17 August 2019 booked the firm, directors Deepak Puri and Nita Puri, their son Ratul Puri and several others under Sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged document as genuine) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy). The case was also filed under section 13(2) along with section 13(1)(d), dealing with criminal misconduct by public servants.
The CBI case also formed the basis of a money-laundering probe launched by the Enforcement Directorate, which arrested Ratul Puri on 20 August 2019 when he appeared before the agency for questioning in another money-laundering case arising out of the alleged AugustaWestland chopper scam.
He has been out on bail since December that year.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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