Warrant issued for Gujarat firm's directors

New Delhi, Nov 14 : A court here on Tuesday issued non-bailable warrants against two directors of a Gujarat pharma firm in a Rs 5,000 crore bank fraud case.

The warrants were issued by Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma against Sterling Biotech Directors Chetan Jayantilal Sandesara and Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara for evading Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons.

On November 1, the ED arrested businessman Gagan Dhawan from his south Delhi residence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in the case involving fraud of over Rs 5,000 crore by the Sandesara Group.

The ED alleged that he was involved in diverting the amount to purchase properties and other shell companies.

According to ED officials, Dhawan allegedly aided bank loan frauds related to Vadodara-based Sterling Biotech, a Sandesara Group of companies.

The ED had registered a case of money laundering following a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation against Sterling Biotech, its Directors Chetan Jayantilal Sandesara, Dipti Chetan Sandesara, Rajbhushan Omprakash Dixit, Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara, Vilas Joshi and several others in connection with the bank fraud case.