Bank Fraud Case: Relief To BJP Leader Mohit Kamboj, Sessions Court Sets Aside Magistrate Court's Order Rejecting Closure Report

Mumbai: In a relief to BJP leader Mohit Kamboj, the Sessions Court has set aside the order of the Magistrate Court rejecting the closure report in the CBI case accusing his firm of cheating the Central Bank of India to the tune of Rs103.81 crore.

The Magistrate Court in November last year rejected the closure report filed by CBI wherein the agency said, there was no sufficient evidence to prosecute the accused firm and its directors. The Magistrate Court, however, had asked the CBI to carry out further investigation.

The order was challenged before the sessions court. “The sessions judge on Saturday set aside the order of the Magistrate court rejecting the closure report, thereby refusing to accept it," said Kamboj's lawyer Rizwan Merchant.

What's The Case?

CBI had registered a case against Kamboj and a firm Tenet Exim Pvt Limited along with the firm's other directors Jitendra Kapoor, Naresh Kapoor, Siddhant Bagla, Irtesh Mishra and three other persons. The case was registered in June 2020 on the complaint of the Central Bank of India alleging cheating.

It was claimed that Tenet Exim through its directors, M/s KBJ Developers, corporate guarantor, M/s Rudraksha Motors Private Limited (corporate guarantor), Mohit Kamboj, (CMD and guarantor), Jitendra Kapoor, (director and guarantor), Naresh M Kapoor (director), Siddhant R Bagla (director), Hitesh Mishra (director) and M/s Lalit and Surendra Chartered Accountants submit false documents and availed credit facility of Rs50 crore from the bank.

The bank claimed that accused persons dishonestly diverted the funds and caused the wrongful loss to the bank to the tune of Rs 103.81 crores, which was settled at Rs94.39 crore after one time settlement in February 2020. The bank filed a case in June 2020, complying with RBI's guidelines.

CBI Closure Report:

The CBI while closing the case said, “Sales/purchase transactions of the borrower company with other companies found to be correct. During the course of investigation, no evidence of misrepresentation, mis-statement about the amount of unsecured loan infused/infusion of share capital of money found regarding number of shares in balance sheets of accused borrower company.”

Further, the agency said the firm settled the matter with the bank. Meanwhile, the bank on the other hand filed a no objection to closure of the case as they had settled the account with the firm and had withdrawn all the cases.

The Metropolitan Magistrate, while rejecting the closure report, has said that prima-facie the accused are liable to be prosecuted for alleged offences. “The criminal act of the accused is required to be dealt with, as public money is misused by forging documents and cheating the nationalised bank that is Central Bank of India to the tune of crores of rupees,” the court said.