The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday filed a chargesheet before the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate in the financial fraud case involving SBI Global Factors Ltd (GFL), Union Bank of India (UBI) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). As per the First Investigation Report (FIR), the accused persons in the case are Arun Kumar, Kochi branch head of SBI GFL, Somaraj Narayanan Nair and Anantha Narayana Bhat, partners of Kochi-based Green Woods India, Rajesh Patel and Umeesh Kureel, of Union Bank of India, Narasanda branch and Ajay Kod. As per the CBI, the accused duped SBI GFL of nearly Rs 4.9 crore through an immensely well-plotted fraud. They forged nearly all vital documents and diverted BSNL phone lines to make the execution foolproof.
The CBI submitted that they presented a forged Letter of Credit (LC) of Union Bank of India for the sum of over Rs 4.9 crore. The amount was credited into the account of Green Woods with Bank of Baroda, Ernakulam main branch.
During the investigation, the CBI had also arrested Raja Chandrashekar Khar, 37, of Mumbai, Kailash Ankushbhai Wadkar, 33, of Anand district, Gujarat and Ramabhai Shanabhai Vaghela, 45, of Chaklashi, Nadiad. The CBI probe revealed that Ramabhai Shanabhai Vaghela, a telephone mechanic of BSNL in the Uttarsand exchange, diverted the lines of UBI, Narasanda branch, to a rented house at Shriram Niwas, near Patelwadi, Nadiad, Gujarat. He diverted the lines for confirming the authenticity of the forged LC, purported to be issued by the Narasanda branch of the UBI. After diverting the call, Raja Chandrashekar Khara made phone calls from the diverted lines as branch manager of the Narasanda branch of UBI to the Kochi office of SBIGFL for verifying the LC.
The accused also forged a letter of of UBI which was faxed to the Kochi SBIGFL office from the diverted fax line.