After seven days in custodial interrogation, Cox and Kings promoter Peter Kerkar was, on Thursday, remanded by a unique court in judicial custody.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) did not seek additional custody of Kerkar on Thursday. The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court stated that it perused the remand application of the ED and, obtaining thought of the statements produced in it, the accused is remanded in judicial custody till December 17. TD Joshi and Associates appeared for Kerkar.
Kerkar was arrested final week. Seeking his custody for ten days a day just after his arrest, the ED had told the court that he is the “mastermind” of the siphoning of funds loaned by Yes Bank and had carried out so in connivance with his co-accused in the case Chief Financial Officer of Cox and Kings Anil Khandelwal and internal auditor of the group Naresh Jain.
It had then also told the court that Kerkar had lodged complaints against his accomplices and now co-accused amongst other people with the ulterior motive to escape. The ED probe had arisen from a complaint registered at Nagpada police station upon a magistrate court’s order. The order had resulted from a private complaint by Kerkar himself. In the course of the investigation, the ED discovered that Kerkar himself is the mastermind, the agency had informed the court.
According to the agency’s case, the travel group had availed loans to the tune of Rs 3,642 crores from Yes Bank and applied manipulated finance statements and balance sheets in order to divert the loan quantity and siphon it. The sanctioning of the loans was driven by Yes Bank founder and then MD and CEO Rana Kapoor by defying norms. Kapoor is mentioned to have directed bank officials to not make efforts to recover the loans that became outstanding. Kapoor is in prison in an additional multi-crore fraud case, exactly where he is an accused along with promoters of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL).