New Delhi, Sep 9: The CBI arrested the Managing Director of an Indore-based private company and another person in a Rs183 crore fake bank guarantee scam that hit Madhya Pradesh government’s water utility, an official said on Tuesday.

Teerth Gopicon’s Managing Director, Mahesh Kumbhani and a private person identified as Gaurav Dhakad were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday, the complaint of Madhya Pradesh Jal Nigam Limited (MPJNL), the official said.

The CBI registered three separate cases following directions from the High Court of Madhya Pradesh. These cases pertain to a major financial fraud involving the submission of forged bank guarantees by an Indore-based company to the Madhya Pradesh Jal Nigam Limited (MPJNL).

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It was alleged that in 2023, Teerth Gopicon secured three irrigation projects in the districts of Chhatarpur, Sagar, and Dindori, Madhya Pradesh, with a total value of Rs 974 crore.

To support these contracts, the company submitted eight fake bank guarantees worth Rs 183.21 crore, the complaint said.

On the strength of these forged guarantees, Teerth Gopicon also received around Rs 85 crore as mobilisation advances from the MPJNL.

During the initial verification, MPJNL received fraudulent email responses impersonating the official domain of Punjab National Bank (PNB), falsely confirming the authenticity of the bank guarantees, the CBI said.

Relying on these false confirmations, the MPJNL awarded three contracts worth Rs 974 crore to the Indore-based company.

The CBI said that the accused will be produced before the Special Magistrate, Indore Court, where the probe agency would seek permission to question them for a longer time.

In June, the CBI said in a statement that after interrogating officials of PNB, it arrested a senior bank manager, Govind Chandra Hansda and Firoz Khan in connection with the Rs183 crore fake bank guarantee scam. The federal probe agencies had arrested the three suspects from Kolkata.

(IANS/NS)

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