Rotomac fraud: I-T attaches assets in Kanpur, Ahmedabad

The income tax (I-T) department on Wednesday said it has attached four immovable assets of the Rotomac group and its promoters in connection with an alleged tax evasion probe against them. They said the properties, three in Kanpur and one in Ahmedabad, were provisionally attached on Tuesday.

In another development, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday questioned the owner of Rotomac Pens, Vikram Kothari, and his son Rahul at the agency’s headquarters in New Delhi. Kothari was earlier questioned in Kanpur, where his company and residence are located, sources said, adding he and his son Rahul were called here by the CBI, without elaborating on the reasons. The Kanpur-based group is being probed by the CBI and the ED in connection with an alleged bank loan fraud of Rs 37 billion, given by a consortium of seven banks. 

The CBI had registered a criminal case against Rotomac Global, its director Vikram Kothari, his wife Sadhana and son Rahul and unidentified bank officials on a complaint received from Bank of Baroda. 

It was alleged in the complaint from BoB that conspirators cheated a consortium of bank loans of Rs 37 billion, including the interest component, CBI officials said. The principal amount involved was Rs 29 billion. Allahabad Bank on Wednesday said it has an exposure of Rs 5.2 billion.

The I-T department had earlier this week attached 14 bank accounts that were in various bank branches in Uttar Pradesh. These attachment of assets, they said, has been carried out to “recover outstanding tax demands” from the group, understood to be about Rs 850 million.

BoB had approached the CBI, requesting a first information report be lodged against Kothari as it apparently feared he might leave the country, sources added. The CBI had registered a case on February 18 following the complaint.