Former J&K minister’s son booked in fraud case: Officials

NEW DELHI: The CBI on Saturday filed a charge sheet against Hilal Rather, son of former Jammu and Kashmir minister Abdul Rahim Rather, in connection with a ~177crore bank fraud scam within 10 days of taking over the case, officials said.

In the charge sheet filed before Special Court, Jammu, the CBI has also named the then branch heads of J and K Bank, New University Campus branch Iqbal Singh and Arun Kapoor as accused, they said.

A special investigation team is probing the case, earlier investigated by the Anti Corruption Bureau of the UT, since the CBI registered the FIR on March 4 on the request of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, they said.

The CBI has alleged that Hilal Rather entered into a criminal conspiracy with the then officials of the Bank to get loans of ~177.68 crore(approx) in violation of rules and guidelines. “The loans that were sanctioned for construction of flats were allegedly diverted and misappropriated by the accused using the bank accounts of his employees. It was further alleged that the accused submitted forged certificates and bills to the bank,” a CBI spokesperson said here.

Detailing alleged omissions on part of bank officials, the CBI said they did not verify certificates and helped Rather in siphoning off the loan amount and laundering of money, the officials said.

“Further investigation including acquisition of assets by accused in India/ Abroad and to identify other transactions is continuing,” the spokesperson said.