The Ink Dries up
His father, Mansukhbhai Kothari, was one of the first to sell paan masala in pouches under the brand name Pan Parag. Vikram himself set up his stationery business under the name of Rotomac in the 1980s, later foraying into a host of businesses, including real estate, steel and infrastructure. Bollywood stars Salman Khan and Raveena Tandon were brand ambassadors for Rotomac pens. He also began to figure in the who’s who list of Indian business. In 1992, Rotomac Pens, which made stationery and greeting cards, was rechristened Rotomac Global. His brother, Deepak, took over Pan Parag.
However, Kothari’s success story began to unravel when state-owned Bank of Baroda named Rotomac Global a wilful defaulter in 2017. Kothari, his wife and son were also accused of cheating Allahabad Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Indian Overseas Bank, Union Bank of India, Bank of India, and Oriental Bank of Commerce, defaulting on loans worth Rs 3,700 crore from these banks.
Kothari and his family are alleged to have created many fictitious ‘front’ companies and submitting forged documents to raise money from banks.
Acting on a complaint by the Bank of Baroda, the CBI registered an FIR against Kothari early this year, following which raids were conducted at his offices in Kanpur, Lucknow, Dehradun and Ahmedabad. Kothari was also arrested later.
Acting on the CBI’s FIR, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) too registered a money laundering case against Kothari and his family members under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. In December, the ED attached properties belonging to Kothari, including his home in Kanpur, according to news reports.