ITC chairman Y C Deveshwar is among several persons who are being probed in this case, a finance ministry source said.
This is the first time that the name of Deveshwar has cropped up in connection with the case. In the depositions before a New Jersey court by the Chitalias, the entire top brass of ITC including former chairman K L Chugh were named except Deveshwar.
The directorate is also investigating a host of other charges of over-invoicing and under-invoicing. It is believed that the bulk of the documentary evidence regarding the alleged involvement of these people were provided by the Chitalias when the government officials visited the US earlier this month.
Having collected the voluminous documents, the team is now assessing the evidential value of the documents. It is expected that it would be completed in the next two weeks, the source said.
The Chitalias, who have already made depositions in the New Jersey court alleging various wrongdoings by ITC and its subsidiaries, ITC Global, had written a letter to the finance ministry offering to provide information on the condition that the government granted them immunity against prosecution in the Indian courts.
The government, which sent a team to assess the authenticity as well as the evidential value of the documents, had decided to provide the Chitalias immunity after a detailed study on the genuineness of the documents. The Chitalias lawyer in the US had earlier hinted that Deveshwar might be named in fresh depositions in the US courts.
Sources in ITC, however, see this as a move to discredit the existing management. They say that Deveshwar was only the vice-chairman when K L Chugh was the chairman, and was unaware of the deals struck in ITC Global as these divisions were controlled by other directors who never reported them to the board.