Enforcement Directorate (ED) team has raided Bharat Papers Limited in Ludhiana, Punjab today. A case of fraud of Rs 200 crore with banks by Papers Limited has come to light. After which raids are going on in many states. According to the information, ED team has raided 9 places in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and UP.
In September 2006, Bharat Papers Limited (BPL) started the paper board packaging industry in Jammu and Ludhiana. The allegation against the company is that its directors committed a fraud of about Rs 200 crore with several banks of the state. The directors of Bharat Papers Limited are Rajinder Kumar, Praveen Kumar, Baljinder Singh, Anil Kumar and Anil Kashyap. At present the investigation in this matter is going on.
On November 11, 2022, two former directors of Bharat Papers Limited Company, Praveen Aggarwal and Anil Kumar, were arrested by CBI from Kathua (Jammu) in a bank embezzlement case. They were accused of committing a loan scam of Rs 87.88 crore in connivance with the officials of Ludhiana branch of the State Bank of India (SBI).
According to CBI officials, a case was registered against Bharat Papers Mill and its managing director, directors and others in the year 2020 on the complaint of SBI, Ludhiana branch. In this case, the then directors of the company, Anal Kumar and Praveen Aggarwal were arrested. Bharat Paper Mill is said to be situated on 400 karnals of land in Langate, Kathua.
Due to recession, this unit was closed about 16 years ago and its machinery has also been sold. However, the bank took possession of this land after the company defaulted many years ago. In the year 2006, the company had claimed to invest about Rs 200 crore in the first phase and again Rs 200 crore in the second phase, but within two years the company locked the Kathua based unit.
Fraud committed with the connivance of officials:
To run this project, a loan was taken from the State Bank branch in Ludhiana. The company also has a unit in the industrial area of Samba. The bank's allegation was that the fraud was committed in collusion with unknown officials of SBI. It is being told that the loan of Rs 87.88 crore has become worth about Rs 121.13 crore including interest.