A fresh jolt: After PNB scam, Rotomac owner Vikram Kothari under scanner for Rs 800-crore loan

Less than a week after the Jewellery designer Nirav Modi Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam of Rs 11,400 crore came to limelight, yet another similar loan defaulter case of Rs 800 crore has come up and this time it is the owner of the Rotomac Pen, Vikram Kothari. 

Rotomac, a Kanpur-based company had last year taken a loan of Rs 800 crore from different banks which included Allahabad Bank, Bank of India and Union Bank of India.

When even after a year, when the firm did not pay back the loan amount nor the interest, on February 27, 2017, Bank of Baroda (BoB), declared the company as a "wilful defaulter" as per the norms of Reserve Bank of India.

Then after the company headed to the Allahabad High Court seeking removal of its name from the willful defaulter list as they had offered the bank assets worth the loan amount.

On hearing the petition, a division bench comprising Chief Justice DB Bhosle and Justice Yashwant Verma had passed the order on a petition filed by the company, contending that it has been wrongly declared a 'willful defaulter by the BoB as the petitioner had offered assets to the bank worth Rs 300 crore.

Although there are speculations that Kothari has fled the country, yet calling it baseless, he said, “I am a resident of Kanpur and I will stay in the city.” He also added that he has a few commitments in foreign countries and would have to soon leave it.

As per the local media, Kothari took a loan of Rs. 485 crore from the Mumbai branch of the Union Bank of India and a loan of Rs. 352 crore from the Kolkata branch of Allahabad Bank.

On Monday morning, The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has raided the residence of Kothari after a case was filed against him for Rs 800 crore that he borrowed from at least five state-owned banks.

Meanwhile the Manager of Allahabad Bank, Rajesh Gupta said that the bank would recover the amount by selling Kothari’s properties.