The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested former executive director of Moser Baer India Limited (MBIL) Ratul Puri on Tuesday, August 20, in connection with a Rs 354 crore bank fraud case filed by Central Bank of India.
The accused, who is also Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath's nephew, was arrested by the ED three days after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against him.
According to the bank's complaint, the company had been taking loans from various banks since 2009 and had gone under debt restructuring several times.
"The funds granted by the banks have been misused and misappropriated by MBIL and its directors for their own personal use, MBIL and its Directors and promoters have also committed fraud in respect of reporting book debts, which were also one of the primary securities of the bank," the complaint read.
The CBI carried search operations at six locations on Sunday, including the residences and offices of the accused directors, reported IANS.
While Puri resigned from the position of executive director in 2012, his parents continued to be on the company's board.
Managing Director Deepak Puri, Directors Nita Puri, Sanjay Jain and Vineet Sharma have also been booked for criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and corruption.
AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam
Puri has been under investigation for his alleged roles in criminal cases of evasion and money laundering in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal.
While Puri has maintained that he is innocent, he told a Delhi court that he was willing to join the probe into the chopper scam, provided that the non-bailable warrant issued against him is cancelled, according to The Economic Times.
On Monday, the court stated that Puri had been evading the investigation. Puri's council responded by saying that investigating agencies have been "unfair to his client who is willing to cooperate".
The warrant against Puri was issued after the court noted that the investigation revealed possible tampering of evidence and influencing witnesses, "as he already did earlier".
The AgustaWestland chopper scam came to light in early 2013 and involved several politicians, middlemen and defence officials accepting bribes from the helicopter design and manufacturing company to fix the Rs 3,546 crore deal in 2006 and 2007.
The scam gained mainstream criticism as the 12 AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters purchase were bought for VVIP duties including the President of India and senior state officials.
Earlier this year, prime suspects of the high-profile corruption case, businessman Rajiv Saxena and corporate aviation lobbyist Deepak Talwar were extradited to India from Dubai and handed over to the ED for investigation.
