ED arrests Phagwara-based bizman in Rs 24-cr fraud case

Tribune News Service

Phagwara, February 23

A Phagwara-based businessman, Suresh Seth, has been arrested by the Zonal Office of the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged case of Rs 24-crore fraud in Bank of Baroda and alleged violation of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

He was presented in a Mohali court and sent to judicial custody. The ED officials disclosed that he was an accused but was not appearing before the court. Bailable warrants were also issued but he still did not appear. Since he was evading the process of law, non-bailable warrants had been issued for his arrest. He will now be produced before the court on March 7 through videoconferencing.

The elder brother of Suresh, Vikram Seth, is the main accused in the case which had been lodged by the Anti-Corruption Bureau in Chandigarh in January 2015. He was booked under Sections 120-B, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC and under various Sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The ED had arrested Vikram on September 22 last year. The charges were that in connivance with the bank staff, he had got passed 19 loans worth Rs 24 crore by forgery of documents. A total of 14 persons, including seven members of his family, had been chargesheeted by the ED.

It was found that he had used Rs 18.17 crore of the loan money to invest in properties in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. Connecting the money trail, the ED found 42 such properties, including residential, industrial, agricultural and commercial. Other than his properties, his luxury cars and SUVs purchased through the alleged ill-gotten money have also been attached in the case. —

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