The Enforcement Directorate arrested businessman Ratul Puri, nephew of MP CM Kamal Nath, in a bank loan fraud case, PTI reported. The CBI had earlier booked Puri, who formerly served as executive director of Moser Baer, and others in connection with a Rs 354 crore bank fraud case filed by Central Bank of India. The company is involved in the manufacture of optical storage media like compact discs, DVDs, solid state storage devices. Puri and others have been booked for alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and corruption.
On Tuesday, the ED had told a court that Puri was evading probe in the AgustaWestland chopper scam related money laundering case. The agency made the allegations before special judge Arvind Kumar who was hearing Puri's application seeking cancellation of a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against him.
The agency opposed Puri's plea and said it had called him on various occasions, including on Sunday and Monday, but he did not appear.
Puri's counsel Vijay Aggarwal claimed the agency has been unfair to Puri who is willing to cooperate in the investigation.
"He is willing to join the probe with the ED, but the ED has e-mailed him today at 11:55 am and called him at 1pm. This is unfair. How can a person join investigation at such a short notice," Aggarwal told the court.
The court reserved for August 21 its order on Puri's application. The counsel had earlier informed the court that Puri had been granted by the Delhi High Court interim protection from arrest.
The court had issued the NBW against Puri while noting the ED's submissions that the businessman might try to tamper with evidence and influence witnesses "as he already did earlier".
-Inputs from PTI
