On October 27, 2023, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) conducted search operations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) at 20 locations in Chandigarh, Panchkula, Sonepat, and Delhi in a Bank Fraud case involving Rs.1626.7 Crore against M/s Parabolic Drugs Limited, Chandigarh. The searches led to the recovery of movable and immovable assets totaling Rs.114 Crore (estimated), as well as digital devices and many damning papers.
The ED launched an investigation based on an FIR filed by the CBI in Chandigarh under different provisions of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, against M/s Parabolic Drugs Ltd., its promoter directors Pranav Gupta and Vineet Gupta, and others. They also co-founded Ashoka University.
M/s Parabolic Drug Ltd., its Directors, and others were found to have cheated the Central Bank of India and other consortium banks between 2009 and 2014. Vineet and Pranav Gupta were actively and personally involved in the creation, stacking, and siphoning of criminal proceeds by fraudulently inflating the value of primary security against which drawings were permitted by the bank. The loan monies were diverted and fraudulently circulated between their group companies and different shell firms while under their command and control.
The ED probe further found that Pranav and Vineet Gupta, as well as M/s Parabolic Drugs Limited, cheated banks by obtaining loans/financial facilities on the basis of fake and false documents. During the time of the offense, their statutory auditor was S.K. Bansal, CA. He supported Pranav Gupta and Vineet Gupta in unlawfully converting loan monies from liabilities to assets through a series of activities. He purposefully withheld critical financial information from lending banks and issued fake certificates in order to get loans.
On October 29, 2023, Pranav Gupta, Vinit Gupta, and S.K. Bansal, CAs of the business, were detained under Section 19 of the PMLA 2002. The Hon’ble Court was happy to remand them to ED custody until November 2, 2023, which was later extended to November 4, 2023. More research is being conducted.
