CBI files chargesheet in Rs 126-crore: Gujarat telecom scam

Mumbai, July 6 (SURYAA) The CBI on Thursday filed a chargesheet before a special court in Mumbai against a Gujarat-based private telecom company and several officials of different banks in a scam that caused losses to the tune of around Rs 126.40 crore.

The prime accused, Sunil S. Kakkad, Director of Messrs Click Telecom Pvt Ltd, and others were booked following a complaint from a consortium of banks.

Investigations revealed that the company was sanctioned several credit facilities, including cash, term loans and non-fund based limits to the tune of Rs 126 crore, by the State Bank of India, Vijaya Bank and the Canara Bank.

Kakkad, who had taken over Messrs Click Telecom Pvt Ltd from its earlier promoters, was arrested on May 12 following investigations into the case.

Later, the company bagged bids for launching BSNL's Voice & Video Over Broad Band (VVOBB) project in southern and eastern zones of India.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said that Kakkad had inflated the project cost to obtain huge funds from the consortium of banks. No machinery was actually supplied and Letters of Credit (LCs) were opened favouring associate companies.

Later, these LCs were discounted and the funds siphoned off, causing losses to the consortium of banks, it said.

The CBI investigated the matter and filed the chargesheet naming Kakkad and several bank officials, including a senior woman officer, as accused in the case.

Other bank officials include former SBI - Ahmedabad's regional head Kaushik Bagchi; former Deputy General Manager in Baroda Rajeev Sadashiv Dahat; former member of SBI - Ahmedabad's Mid Corporate Credit Committee member Sanjiva K. Prasad; and senior credit analyst at SBI-Ahmedabad's Overseas Branch Deepa Juthani.

Besides, the chargesheet also named Vinod Kumar Sharma, former CEO, Gujarat Info Petro Ltd, and three more -- N.K. Goyal, Dinesh P. Jani and Bharat P. Gajjar -- as the other accused in the case.