CBI books Hyd firm for bank fraud

NEW DELHI: Probing another huge bank fraud, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a case against Hyderabad-based company Transstroy (India) Ltd and its CMD Cherukuri Shridhar, among others, for allegedly defrauding a consortium of banks led by Canara Bank of ₹7,926 crore, officials said on Friday.

People familiar with the development said the amount involved in the fraud was higher than what Nirav Modi owes to India banks. Modi is currently facing extradition proceedings and is lodged in a

UK jail.

Transstroy, which was into construction of highways, bridges, irrigation projects, metro-related work as well as in the business of oil and gas, is currently under liquidation process as per an order by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in September 2019.

Apart from Transstroy and Sridhar, the CBI has named as accused Rayapati Sambasiva Rao (additional director in the company) and Akkineni Sathish (additional director) in the FIR registered at its Bengaluru unit.

Agency teams on Friday carried out raids in Hyderabad and Guntur at the premises of accused persons and recovered documents related to the fraud, officials said.

CBI spokesperson RK Gaur said, “It was alleged that the accused was involved in falsification/fabrication of books of accounts, fudging of stock statements, tampering of balance sheetsetc. It was also alleged that the accused misappropriated bank’s funds and diverted the loan amount sanctioned by the banks and caused a loss of ₹7,926.01 crore (approx) to Canara Bank and other member banks.”

Transstroy’s legal or company representatives could not be located by HT for comments.