SC issues notice to Centre, others on plea for probe into multi-crore rupees insolvency fraud

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses of the Centre, Telangana, CBI, ED and SFIO on a plea seeking an independent probe into a multi-crore corporate fraud involving alleged collusion of state authorities and a high-ranking member of the judiciary.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi took note of the submissions of lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay and issued notices to various Union ministries, including the home affairs, finance, law and justice and corporate affairs.

It also issued notices to central probe agencies CBI, ED and the SFIO (Serious Fraud Investigation Office).

The petition, filed by Saurabh Agarwal, director of Bengal Cold Rollers Pvt Ltd, said that there was a sophisticated scheme where the suspended management of an insolvent company allegedly siphoned off nearly Rs 150 crore and used high-level "judicial influence" to stall insolvency proceedings for more than 30 months.

The plea also referred to the proceedings at the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), Chennai.

It said NCLAT member Justice Sharad Kumar Sharma recused himself in an open court after making a shocking disclosure that he had reportedly been approached by a sitting chief justice of a high court seeking a "favourable order" for the suspended directors of the corporate debtor M/s KLSR Infratech Limited.

The plea said that Justice Sharma went as far as showing his mobile phone, containing call logs and messages from the "revered member" of the higher judiciary, to the counsel in the open court.

The plea centres on KLSR Infratech Limited, which was admitted into the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) in July 2023.

Despite a statutory moratorium and the suspension of its board, the petition said that the suspended directors allegedly manipulated Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) records to reflect the company's status as "active" rather than "under CIRP."

By doing that, as per the plea, the directors allegedly raised fresh loans totalling Rs 148.87 crore from various banks by charging the company's assets.

The company allegedly secured government tenders worth approximately Rs 6,000 crore during the insolvency period without the authorisation of the interim resolution professional (IRP).

The plea said that when the petitioner and another creditor refused to drop their claims, the suspended management used their "proximity to power" in Telangana to unleash a targeted attack.

The petition claimed that state tax authorities initiated "malicious" GST proceedings, conducted illegal searches, and even arrested the petitioner's family member using "fabricated documents" on plain paper.

The petitioner alleged these were "arm-twisting tactics" designed to force them into a settlement.

The plea, filed through Ashwani Kumar Dubey, sought a CBI and SFIO investigation into the alleged collusion between state authorities, the management of KLSR Infratech, and the alleged judicial interference.

It sought an ED probe into alleged money laundering by the suspended directors.

It also sought a direction to the NCLAT registrar to release the video recordings and transcripts of the August 13, 2025 proceeding where the judicial influence was disclosed.

It also sought a direction to the MCA to immediately correct the status of the company to "under CIRP" to prevent further asset stripping.