India / SBI's ex-Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri arrested in loan scam case

New Delhi: A former State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Pratip Chaudhuri has been arrested in connection to a loan scam case by the Jaisalmer police. 

He was arrested from his Delhi residence in case involving a hotel in Jaisalmer, The Times of India reported. The case is related to properties owned by Godawan Group which took Rs 24 crores loan from SBI in 2008 to construct a hotel.

According to the news report, allegations against Chaudhuri include properties worth Rs 200 crore being sold for Rs 25 crores after bank seized them for defaulting on the loans.

The police say Godawan Group took out a loan for Rs 24 crore from SBI in 2008 for constructing a hotel. At this point, the group's other hotel was functioning. Soon when the group was unable to repay the loan, the hotel was termed NPA, and the bank moved on to seize both the hotels when Chaudhuri was the Chairman of SBI. The two hotels were then sold to Alchemist ARC company at Rs 25 crore. Alchemist's Alok Dhir managed to flee yesterday, the Times of India reported.

Alchemist ARC took over the hotels in 2016 and an assessment carried out in 2017 showed that the property's market price was Rs 160 crore and is valued at Rs 200 crore today. Chaudhuri's tenure as the 23rd Chairman of SBI ended in September 2013. Reports say he joined Alchemist ARC as a director after his retirement from SBI.

The Chief Judicial Magistrate in Jaisalmer issued an arrest warrant against Chaudhuri & seven others. Chaudhuri will be brought to Jaisalmer on Monday.

Reacting to the news of Chaudhuri’s arrest, SBI clarified that all due processes were followed while making the said sale to ARC. The bank has already offered its cooperation to the Law Enforcement and Judicial authorities and will provide further information, if any, that may be called for from their side.

“It appears from the copies of the proceedings now accessed by us that the Hon’ble Court does not appear to have been briefed correctly on the sequence of events. In as much as SBI was not a party to this case, there was no occasion for the views of SBI being heard as part of this proceedings,” the bank said.