The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested five accused, including two former officials of the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) and the Bank of Baroda, for alleged misappropriation of about ₹31.50 crore from the Authority’s funds.
The accused have been identified as Vivek Kumar, the then RLDA manager; Jaswant Rai, the then branch head of the Bank of Baroda in Delhi’s Vishwas Nagar; Gopal Thakur, Hitesh Karelia ,and Nilesh Bhatt.
It is alleged that the RLDA had initially invested about ₹35 crore for one year in the form of fixed-deposit with the bank. Thereafter, the maturity proceeds were supposed to be re-invested for a period of three months. However, the bank invested only ₹3.5 crore in fixed-deposit and the remaining amount was diverted to different shell companies in connivance with the accused officials of the bank and the RLDA, besides private persons.
The agency found that the funds deposited with the bank were diverted to the shell entities operating from Mumbai. Subsequently, they were withdrawn and misappropriated by the accused-persons. “The alleged role of officials of RLDA (Delhi) has also emerged in the case. Searches were earlier conducted at 12 different places in Delhi, Mumbai, Goa and Himachal Pradesh,” the CBI said.
“Only the maturity proceeds of ₹3.50 crore were reinvested for three months. This resulted in loss to the RLDA,” said the CBI.
