A criminal case has been registered against Bharath Earth Movers Limited (BEML) Chairman and Managing Director P Dwarakanath, 14 directors and a company secretary by the Special Courts for Economic Offences for issuing dividends to shareholders.
On Thursday, while hearing an October 31 petition by senior advocate and BEML shareholder K S Periyaswamy questioning the issuance of dividends despite incurring heavy losses, the court directed that a case be registered under Section 447 of the Companies Act. Advocate Periyaswamy said the accused will have to appear before the court on January 2, 2014.
“Section 447 prescribes punishment for fraud up to 10 years and also gives scope to recover three times the amount involved in the fraud,” he said.
Periyaswamy argued that the company is incurring loss of over Rs 80 crore in the financial year 2013-14. Up to November 2013, BEML had been unable to bear the medical reimbursement bills of its employees. In his petition, he explained that under the Companies Act, only those making profits are allowed to declare dividends. BEML is the only company giving dividends even after incurring huge losses. The petitioner had also returned his dividend amount to the company.
Speeding Bike Kills Man on Flyover
In a tragic incident, a 43-year-old auto driver was killed after a speeding motorcycle hit him as he was inspecting his vehicle when it developed a snag on the Lingarajapuram Flyover on Thursday night. The accident happened in front of the victim’s wife and 10-year-old daughter.
Sham Kumar, a resident of K G Halli, collapsed on the spot and died on the way to hospital. The identity of the motorcyclist is yet to be ascertained, the police said.