CBI books Totem Infrastructure in Rs 1,394 crore bank loan fraud case

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked a Hyderabad-based construction and infrastructure company for allegedly defrauding a consortium of eight banks to the tune of over Rs 1,394 crore, officials said.nnTotem Infrastructure Ltd., which worked as a sub-contractor for several major infrastructure companies, and its promoters Tottempudi Salalith and Tottempudi Kavita were named in a CBI FIR, registered on the basis of a complaint from the Union Bank of India, one of the eight banks, they said.nnThe company figured in the list of the biggest tax defaulters released by the Income Tax Department in 2015 with an outstanding tax of over Rs 400 crore.nnThe IT department had in 2015 also announced a reward of up to Rs 15 lakh to informants for tracing the company, calling it ?untraceable?, and other defaulters in the list.nnThe bank alleged that the promoters were untraceable, but the agency managed to track them down at their new place of residence and carried out searches there , the officials said.nnThe CBI also issued a Look Out Circular against the promoters to prevent them from leaving the country and tracking their movements, they said.nnThe bank alleged in the complaint that it suffered a loss of Rs 313.84 crore as the loans given to the company had become a non-performing asset in June, 2012.nnIt is alleged that the loans taken from the banks for various projects were diverted for purposes other than they were meant for and to personal accounts of the promoters.nnOn Wednesday, CBI registered a case against Chennai-based Kanishk Gold and its promoters Bhoopesh and Neeta Jain for allegedly defrauding State Bank of India (SBI) and 13 other banks to the tune of Rs824.15 crore, while also issuing lookout circulars against the accused.nnOn the other hands, CBI inquiring in the Rs12,636 PNB fraud case where CBI has alleged that firms controlled by Nirav Modi and Choksi obtained fraudulent LoUs and letters of credit (LCs), worth over Rs13,000 crore, from PNB in connivance with some officials of the bank. Modi?s firms allegedly defrauded PNB of over Rs6,000 crore, while Choksi?s firms over Rs7,000 crore.nn nnWith PTI inputs