The decision to detain them was taken around midnight. D P Bhattacharya, officer-in-charge of Taltolla police station where those arrested by Enforcement Directorate are kept, arrived at the Enforcement office around 11 p.m. to complete the formalities.
Enforcement deputy director KK Kabirpanthi said: Theres no incriminating evidence yet against ITC chairman Yogesh Deveshwar but his arrest cannot be ruled out.
Enforcement sources said Deveshwar, who was interrogated for only 90 minutes yesterday, will be questioned again on Monday. Deveshwar was allowed to go yesterday on the plea that he had some urgent official work in Delhi.
"No comments," said the chairman, smiling at microphones thrust at his face. "I am cooperating with the Enforcement authorities"
Documents have been recovered from the residence of KS Vaidyanathan, executive vice president (corporate affairs) incriminating the company in Fera violations.
Earlier in the day, the Enforcement Directorate also grilled Chugh and Sapru, following up their previous day's countrywide raid on the Rs 4,000 crore-plus tobacco major.
ITC did not react with any legal step or file bail applications on behalf of those held in custody yesterday.
The focus of investigation has meanwhile shifted to Hyderabad. N Laxminarayana, general manager (finance) of the company, was "heavily interrogated" there, and will be brought to Calcutta for further questioning. Laxminarayana is considered a key person because he was in charge of export receivables from the controversial trading partners -- the Chitalias -- throughout the period under probe.
The Enforcement Directorate is also searching for a missing international business division executive K K Rao, whose residence in the Andhra Pradesh capital was searched yesterday.
Clad in a blue shirt, Chugh smiled at reporters as he was being taken from one room to another and said: "It's nice to see old friends around."
Chugh joined ITC in 1971. He was entrusted with setting up Bhadrachalam Paperboards (now ITC Bhadrachalam).
In 1989, Chugh became the vice chairman of ITC and two years later replaced Sapru as the chairman.
Sapru had joined the company in 1954. As a consequence of innovative product development strategies during the Indo-Pak war in 1965 and the Bangladesh war in 1971,he became a director in 1974. Sapru took over as chairman in 1982 from Ajit Haksar.
