Ex-Chairman of SBI arrested in loan scam case, sent to 14-day judicial custody

Nov. 1: Former State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Pratip Chaudhury was arrested by the Jaisalmer Police from Delhi on Sunday in connection with a loan scam case. He has been sent to 14-day judicial custody. Chaudhury was held on the basis of arrest orders issued by the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in the case of selling Godawan Group hotel property at a cheap price after declaring it NPA.

Pratip Chaudhury was arrested from Delhi on Sunday and brought to Jaisalmer on Monday. Chaudhuri’s bail application was rejected by Magistrate Court in Jaisalmer. The case is related to properties owned by Godawan Group. which took a Rs 24-crore loan from SBI in 2008 to construct a hotel. Allegations against Chaudhuri include properties worth Rs 200 crore being sold for Rs 25 crores after the bank seized them for defaulting on the loan. The Godawan properties were allegedly sold to Alchemist Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC) in 2016 when Chaudhuri was the SBI chairman.

The market value of the property was assessed as Rs 160 crores in 2017, the report added. Godawan Group had approached courts after the properties were sold for a lower valuation. Chaudhuri had joined Alchemist ARC as a director after retirement from SBI. The present cost of properties is estimated at Rs 200 crore.