CBI registers FIR against IL&FS Energy MD, directors over Rs 212.34 crore Canara Bank loan fraud

Soon after registering the case, the agency carried out searches at multiple locations in Delhi, Mumbai and Noida, and said it seized documents it described as incriminating.

Loans from Mumbai and London branches

The case centres on a set of loans that the CBI says were obtained through a criminal conspiracy.

Investigators allege the company secured a term loan of Rs 100 crore from the Syndicate Bank’s Large Corporate Branch in Mumbai. Alongside it, the firm also availed a foreign currency loan of $50 million from the bank’s London branch.

The CBI’s FIR alleges the funds were not used for the purposes for which they were sanctioned. Instead, the money was diverted and siphoned off through associate entities, the agency has alleged.

That diversion, the FIR claims, resulted in a wrongful loss of around Rs 212.34 crore to the bank.

The case has been registered under sections that deal with criminal conspiracy and cheating, and also invokes provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The accused named in the FIR include the corporate borrower and five individuals who held senior leadership roles at the company. The agency has also kept the net open for other suspects by listing unknown public servants and private persons.

At this stage, the FIR sets out the allegations and the suspected route of funds, and marks the beginning of a criminal investigation. Searches and document seizures are typically used to secure records that investigators believe can establish how loan proceeds moved, who approved what, and whether the use of funds matched the terms of sanction.

The complaint that triggered the FIR came from Canara Bank’s Mumbai circle office, pointing to the bank’s internal assessment of the account and the alleged losses. Canara Bank absorbed Syndicate Bank in the consolidation of public sector lenders, making it the successor to the earlier lender relationship referenced in the complaint.

What happens next

With the FIR registered, the CBI can examine bank records, internal approvals, account statements and communications linked to the term loan and the foreign currency facility. Investigators are expected to scrutinise the role of the borrower’s management and any bank officials or intermediaries who may have been involved, given the FIR’s reference to unknown public servants.

The searches in Delhi, Mumbai and Noida indicate the agency is already collecting documentary material across jurisdictions connected to the company and the individuals named.

The CBI has not, in the material available, disclosed arrests, summonses or chargesheets. Those steps, if any, would come after the agency completes its initial evidence-gathering and records statements.