ED arrests man who 'assisted' Kamal Nath's nephew in bank fraud-linked money-laundering case

New Delhi, August 23

The Enforcement Directorate has made a fresh arrest in an alleged Rs 354 crore bank fraud-linked money-laundering case involving Ratul Puri, the businessman nephew of senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, and others, official sources said on Wednesday.

Nitin Bhatnagar, a former relationship manager of the Bank of Singapore, was taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Tuesday.

He was produced before a local court by the agency that sent him to ED custody till August 31.

The money-laundering case stems from an August 2019 FIR of the CBI where it was alleged that the company Moser Baer India Ltd (MBIL) and its promoters allegedly cheated and defrauded the loan taken from the Central Bank of India of Rs 354.51 crore. The case was registered after the bank sent a complaint to the CBI.

Both the CBI and the ED had booked Ratul Puri, his father Deepak Puri, mother Nita (Kamal Nath’s sister). Ratul Puri was arrested by the ED in this case in 2019 and he is now out on bail.