CBI books Mumbai-based firm for ₹30cr bank fraud

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a case against a Mumbai-based realty firm for allegedly cheating the Punjab National Bank (PNB) of ₹30.13 crore, according to officials familiar with the matter.

Pune Buildtech Pvt Ltd, located at DB House, in Mumbai’s Goregaon (East), through its directors — Ishaq Yusuf Balwa and Javardhan Vinod Goenka — had taken a term loan of ₹30.13 crore from PNB in 2013, the central agency has said in a first information report (FIR) filed on June 17.

HT has reviewed the FIR. It said the accused caused a loss to PNB by siphoning off and diverting funds.

Javardhan is the son of Vinod Goenka, who faced trial in the 2G spectrum allocation case but was acquitted by a special CBI court in Delhi in December 2017 along with 16 others, including former telecom minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi. Goenka runs DB Realty Ltd with Shahid Balwa, who was also named in 2G scam. The agency has already challenged their acquittal in the Delhi high court.

To be sure, CBI’S latest case against Javardhan is not linked to the 2G scam.

Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, who represented Balwa and Vinod Goenka, rejected CBI’S charges. “₹20 crore out of ₹30 crore have already been deposited for settlement in the PNB loan account in March 2022 itself, much before a complaint was made by the bank. Settlement talks with the bank went on for quite some time. The Central Bureau of Investigation has not registered a preliminary enquiry (a precursor to the FIR), as mandated by its manual. There is no material in the case which indicates any inducement or any siphoning or illegal gratification. DB Realty Ltd, Vinod Goenka or Shahid Balwa has nothing to do with the case .”