CBI questions Rotomac pens owner, son in Delhi over Rs 3,695 cr loan case
New Delhi: The CBI on Wednesday said that the questioning of Vikram Kothari, promoter of Rotomac pens, and his son Rahul Kothari, is underway at its headquarter in Delhi in connection with a Rs 3,695 crore loan default case. The the two were brought in the national capital from Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur Tuesday night.
The CBI had also carried out raids at the billionaire's home and establishments in Kanpur.
Vikram Kothari and his son were also questioned all day on Tuesday.
Also read: Rotomac owner Deepak Kothari pens bank fraud
Denying any wrongdoing, Vikram Kothari has said, "Yes, I took a loan from the bank but it is wrong information that I haven't paid.”
The CBI has registered a case based after the Bank of Baroda, one of the banks from which Vikram Kothari had taken loans, filed a complaint of loan default against the pen company’s owner.
Kothari had obtained Rs 2,919 crore from the consortium of seven banks -- Bank of India (Rs 754.77 crore), Bank of Baroda (Rs 456.63 crore), Indian Overseas Bank (Rs 771.07 crore), Union Bank of India (Rs 458.95 crore), Allahabad Bank (Rs 330.68 crore), Bank of Maharashtra (Rs 49.82 crore) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (Rs 97.47 crore), the FIR by the CBI said.
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The Rotomac case came just days after the CBI initiated probe into the massive PNB fraud in which bank officials of the state-owned Punjab National Bank assisted diamantaire Nirav Modi and others get credit from overseas banks using fake guarantees. Nirav Modi and his family fled from the country in the first week of January.
According to a report in NDTV, Kothari was declared a wilful defaulter in February 2017. He contested it in the Allahabad High Court and won but allegedly didn't pay his dues. All through 2017r, various properties belonging to him and his family members were auctioned by banks in an attempt to recover some of their dues.
Despite his financial troubles, Kothari hardly cut back on his lavish lifestyle. His sprawling 4,000 square yard 'Santushti' mansion and a fleet of luxury vehicles are well known in Kanpur.
Also read: Rotomac bank fraud: I-T dept attaches 14 bank a/cs including 3 of Vikram Kothari
Vikram Kothari's father Mansukhbhai Kothari established the 'Pan Parag' brand that went on to become a huge success.
In 1999, after the Kotharis split, Vikram took charge of the family's stationery and pens enterprise while his younger brother Deepak Kothari took control of the Pan Parag empire.
