CBI arrests Shivaji Panja, Kaustav Ray in Kolkata bank fraud case

Officials of The Banking Security and Fraud Cell of CBI on Thursday arrested two Kolkata-based businessmen on a complaint filed by Canara bank. Two directors of RP Infosystems Shibaji Panja and Kaustuv Ray were arrested here today, CBI said.

On March 10, Kaustav Roy was interrogated by CBI at Salt Lake CGO complex in connection with 515 crore bank fraud case.

Earlier, other two directors of the organisation, Shivaji Panja and Vinay Basna has been interrogated by the CBI.

State-run Canara Bank had on February 27 lodged a complaint with the investigation agency alleging that the directors of the company -- Shivaji Panja, Kaustuv Ray and Vinay Bafna -- and its Vice President (Finance) Debnath Pal cheated the Banglaore-based lender and nine other consortium member banks to the tune of Rs 515.15 crore.

Besides Canara Bank, the consortium includes State Bank of India, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, Union Bank of India, Allahabad Bank, Federal Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Central Bank of India and Punjab National Bank.

The RP Info Systems, based in Lalbazar Street in Kolkata, is into manufacturing and trading of desktops and laptops under the brand 'Chirag' and servicing computers, networking, integration and other hardware related products in different parts of the country.

According to the complaint filed by Canara Bank, the company had availed bank finance/funds by submitting "fabricated debtors/receivables/inflated stock statements".

The FIR said the fraud was "committed through the borrowal accounts of M/s RP Info Systems Ltd in criminal conspiracy with unknown bank officials" of the consortium. The Letters of Credit (LC) opened by different banks of the consortium on the applications of the firm "started devolving from 2012 onwards due to non-maintenance of funds".

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