Panchsheel Bank takes over Vinu Tex

The city-based Panchsheel Co-operative Bank Ltd has taken over the possession of Vinu Tex, a textile unit owned by C R Patil, on account of his failure to repay the bank's dues.

"C R Patil had taken a loan of Rs 2.50 crore from Panchsheel Bank by mortgaging Vinu Tex in the year 2000. He repaid Rs 36 lakh, but stopped paying the loan installments. With interest, the total dues of the bank have increased to Rs 3.01 crore. Since Patil has failed to repay this amount, the bank has taken over possession of Vinu Tex," said Fakirbhai Chauhan, chairman, Panchsheel Bank.

"We are holding a public auction of Vinu Tex on January 1. We are hopeful that the bank would not suffer any loss and recover its entire dues by auctioning the unit," Chauhan added.

It is worth mentioning here that recently the Central Excise department, Surat, has slapped recovery notices to the tune of Rs 108.75 crore on C R Patil.

These are the outstanding duty and penalty on the textile exports by Vinu Tex during the year 2001, 2003 and 2004. Patil is already in a soup in connection with the multi-crore Diamond Jubilee Co-operative Bank scam.

He owes more than Rs 50 crore to the bank. He is under judicial custody in Surat since over two months, owing to a criminal complaint lodged against him by the Diamond Jubilee Bank.