 "Police arrest former director of Deccan Chronicle Holdings, court grants bail")
Chandigarh police on Thursday arrested M Sukumar Reddy, one of the four independent directors resigned en mass last year from the fraud-hit Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited (DCHL), in a cheque bounce case filed by Religare Finvest Limited.
Police took Reddy -- a close relative of DCHL chairman T Venkatrram Reddy -- by a flight to Chandigarh where he is expected to be produced before a local court today. The court granted bail and released him on furnishing Rs 20 lakh as surety.
While this was the second attempt at arresting Deccan Chronicle promoters after they failed to appear before the court in the cheque bounce case, the police could manage to arrest only this former independent director.
While this was the second attempt at arresting Deccan Chronicle promoters after they failed to appear before the court in the cheque bounce case, the police could manage to arrest only this former independent director.
The company, which had originally lent Rs 100 crore filed a case earlier this year after the cheques amounting to Rs 6 crore issued by the Deccan Chronicle promoters were not honored by the banks.
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The FIR and the subsequent arrest warrants were issued against the company promoters, including chairman T Venkattram Reddy, Vice chairman and authorised signatory P K Iyer, managing director T Vinayak Ravi Reddy among others.
Economic Affairs Wing registered a separate case on a complaint filed by Relegare Finvest according to which the Deccan Chronicle promoters still owe Rs 57.09 crore after adjusting for sale consideration from an immovable property.
Earlier this month the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a case against the promoters on counts of forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy based on a complaint made by Canara Bank, one of the lenders to the media firm, which had acknowledged that it had borrowed about Rs 4,000 crore mostly in short term loans from banks and financial institutions.
Dozens of lenders had approached the courts and the debt recovery tribunal after the company failed to repay loans and also found to have allegedly taken loans based on false documents and by mortgaging the same assets with multiple lenders.