New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered an FIR against ZEE founder and Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra, some other companies and their directors for allegedly inflating his net worth to avail loans from Life Insurance Corporation Housing Finance Ltd (LICHFL). The loans subsequently turned into defaults, resulting in an alleged loss of over Rs 1,322 crore to the public sector lender.
The case was registered by the CBI’s Banking Securities Fraud Branch on August 31, based on a complaint filed by LICHFL general manager Neeta Menghani.
Chandra has been named as accused number 1 in the FIR under charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal breach of trust.
Others named in the FIR include Vasant Sagar Properties Pvt. Ltd, its director Pankaj Suroliya, Pan India Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd, Digital Subscriber Management and Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd, its director Amish Pandya, Spirit Infra Power and Multi Ventures Pvt Ltd, its director Rajeev Dholakia, unknown public servants and others.
LICHFL has alleged wrongful loss of over Rs 1,322 crore, plus interest and charges, in relation to two loan facilities granted in 2018 and secured by personal guarantees allegedly executed by Chandra.
The complaint states that LIC Housing Finance had granted a Rs 500-crore loan facility to Vasant Sagar Properties Pvt. Ltd and Pan India Infra Projects Pvt. Ltd. LICHFL also granted a Rs 480-crore loan facility to Digital Subscriber Management and Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd and Spirit Infra Power and Multi Ventures Pvt Ltd.
LIC Housing Finance has alleged that the loans were granted on the basis of net worth certificates submitted by Chandra. In the case of the Vasant Sagar loan, a certificate dated March 28, 2018 showed his net worth as $6,197.62 million, described in the document as approximately Rs 59,113.21 crore, as of March 31, 2017. For the second loan, a certificate dated July 6, 2018, allegedly showed his net worth as Rs 40,562 crore.
During proceedings related to Chandra’s personal insolvency case, the media baron denied having the net worth reflected in the certificates submitted to LIC Housing Finance. As per LICHFL, Chandra claimed his net worth in 2024 was Rs 31.79 crore, and in 2017-18, he did not have a net worth of more than Rs 40,000 crore.
