New Delhi: Man held for duping bank of Rs 24.13 crore

A 46-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly duping a bank to the tune of Rs 24.13 crore by selling the stocks of his company which he had hypothecated with the bank to avail various loans, police said on Tuesday.

The accused, Pradeep Kumar Mittal, a resident of Pitampura in north west Delhi, was arrested on Monday and later released on bail as per the order of a city court, they said.

According to police, the accused company availed loans worth Rs 24.13 crore from the bank in 2013 by hypothecating stocks of raw materials, semi furnished and unfinished goods lying in its factory premises.

Mittal had agreed to regularly submit the statements of stocks and book debts to the bank, but failed to do so.

A probe was initiated against the accused company on a complaint of the duped bank in 2018.

The bank alleged that when the accused failed to submit the statements of stocks and book debit to the bank in 2014, they visited the factory premises and found very negligible stock lying there and the unit was found non-functional.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Economic Offences Wing) O P Mishra said the directors of the company had availed credit facilities in 2013 from the bank.

The bank secured the credit facilities through the security by way of hypothecation of stocks of raw materials, semi finished goods, goods in transit and book debts. Some properties were also mortgaged as collateral by the alleged company, he said.

"During investigation, it emerged that Mittal was the main person who was looking after the company. The last stock statement was submitted to the bank in 2014 and there was a stock of Rs 11.43 core in the company.

During an inspection later, it was found that merely Rs 12-15 lakh stock was left in the company. The directors of the alleged company had sold out the hypothecated stock and siphoned off the amount without the knowledge of the complainant bank," the officer said.

Further investigation of the case is going on, he added.