KANPUR: The CBI on Monday conducted simultaneous searches at the residence of Vikram Kothari , chairman and MD of Rotomac Pens, besides two other locations for allegedly defaulting loans up to Rs3700 crore. Vikram Kothari , his wife Sadhana and their son Rahul were also questioned by CBI officials at their residence — Santushti — in Tilak Nagar here.The searches by three separate teams of CBI started around 2.30am, just after Vikram returned to his residence from a wedding. The CBI teams also conducted searches at Kothari’s Mall Road City Centre offices, a factory located in Panki area and a farm house in Bithoor area of the city. CBI sleuths seized documents related to loans. Sources said that during searches, which continued till 9.00 pm on Monday, the CBI took into its custody of Kotharis’ phones, passports, I-Pad, ledger books, laptops and bank passbooks.“Relatives and close friends of Kotharis were contacted by CBI officials during the raid and they gathered vital information relating to their business,” sources said. While Vikram refused to talk to the media, his lawyer Sharad Kumar Birla rubbished reports of fraud committed by his client, adding that it was a case of loan default. “My client hasn’t committed any fraud. He had borrowed a loan of Rs800 crore for running his business. It is a case of loan default and not fraud,” Birla told TOI.The CBI move is an attempt to divert people’s attention from real scams,” he said.After the searches, the CBI registered an FIR against Vikram, his wife and director Sadhana and their son Rahul, also a director, and unidentified bank officials for allegedly defaulting on loans worth Rs2,919 crore. The FIR was registered on the basis of a complaint lodged by Brijesh Kumar Singh, deputy general manager and regional head of Bank of Baroda.“The complainant has alleged that conspirators cheated a consortium of seven banks by siphoning off loans to the tune of Rs2,919 crore (principal amount),” a CBI official said and added it didn’t include interest liabilities of the loans. The total outstanding amount, along with interest liabilities for M/s Rotomac , is Rs3,695 crore.This came a day after Vikram denied reports that he had fled the country after taking a Rs800 crore bank loan, saying he was “very much” in his hometown Kanpur.

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