National Bulk Handling Corporation, a commodity and collateral management company, has claimed that its senior officials were wrongly included as accused in an alleged fraud case related to warehouse lending in Virudhunagar district. The case was recently transferred by Madurai Bench of Madras High Court from the District Crime Branch, Virudhunagar, to CBI. In a statement, NBHC said that in the particular case, Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) funded the pre-stacked commodity of paddy kept by a borrower in warehouses. The company acted as collateral manager for the bank. According to NBHC, it was asked by the bank in July 2017 to verify the stock in the warehouses. However, the company claimed that it was not allowed by the borrower and the godown owner to do so. Apprehending loss of stock, NBHC said it lodged a police complaint in August 2017. In the case registered in August 2018, a year later, based on the complaint filed by the bank, NBHC, three of its board members, and two of its Mumbai-based employees were included as accused. The statement claimed that these five officials “were not involved in the day-to-day operations at the warehouses.” As per the statement, NBHC approached the High Court Bench here to quash the FIR against them. The Court, hearing separate petitions by NBHC and the borrower seeking the quash of the FIR, transferred the case to CBI since the central agency was better positioned to investigate the case involving LVB, which is a scheduled bank.
