Ratul Puri arrested; ED gets 6-day-custody
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate late on Monday night arrested Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath's nephew Ratul Puri, in connection with a money laundering case based on a Rs 354 crore bank fraud, allegedly perpetrated by Moser Baer, a company founded and owned by Ratul's father Deepak Puri.
The financial probe agency produced Ratul Puri in a Delhi court on Tuesday afternoon, where a Special judge remanded him to six days in ED's custody.
Lawyers representing the financial probe agency in court claimed that Ratul Puri was on Monday summoned for questioning in connection with the now-scrapped Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam.
After the questioning, probe officials served him with a summons in connection with the Rs 354 crore Moser Baer money-laundering case, which Puri allegedly tore in front of ED officials, the agency's lawyers claimed in court.
Before this, the lawyers said Puri claimed to be unwell and officials had taken him to a hospital to get his health checked-up and brought him back to the agency offices. Puri was questioned with regards to the chopper scam from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm on Monday, after which probe officials handed him the summons in connection with the fresh money-laundering case.
However, Puri's lawyer opposed the arrest, telling the court that his client was called in connection with the AgustaWestland case but was arrested in a separate case. Puri's counsel further said that his client has been co-operative with investigators and had been questioned by the ED at least 25 times.
The ED's fresh PMLA case is based on a CBI FIR that was registered just Saturday (August 17). The CBI had booked Moser Baer, Ratul Puri, his parents Deepak and Nita Puri and two other directors of the firm in the Rs 354 crore bank fraud case, based on a complaint from the Central Bank of India.
The financial probe agency, acting quickly, took cognizance of the CBI's FIR and registered a money-laundering case on Monday.
According to the bank, Moser Baer had started taking loans from a consortium of banks since 2009, when Ratul Puri was an Executive Director of the company and even opted for debt restructuring plans.
The complainant bank alleged that the company and its directors forged and fabricated documents to get the loan amounts disbursed. The Central Bank of India declared Moser Baer's accounts as NPA on April 20, 2019, at which point the bank had detected a possible fraud of Rs 354 crore.
While Ratul Puri was granted interim protection from arrest by the Delhi High Court in connection with the AgustaWestland case till Tuesday, a Delhi court had issued a Non-Bailable Warrant for his arrest in the same case.
But after Puri was arrested by the ED on Monday, the High Court here had dismissed his anticipatory bail plea in the VVIP chopper scam.
Moser Baer had released a statement, shortly after news of Ratul Puri's arrest came into the public domain, saying, "The arrest by ED is unfortunate. Moser Baer had operated in accordance to all legal compliances and this case now, when Moser Baer is in NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal), is motivated."
