Gujarat: CBI Court Convicts Textile Firm Directors

A special CBI court has convicted three individuals and a textile company in a bank loan fraud case involving forged import documents and diversion of funds under a government-backed scheme. The case pertains to a loan sanctioned by SIDBI’s Surat branch under the Technology Upgradation Fund (TUF) scheme meant for modernising the textile sector.

The convicted are Ankush Nakrani, proprietor of M/s A-One International, and Ashok Katharotiya and Himmat Vaddoriya, directors of M/s Jemish Textiles Pvt. Ltd. All three were sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and fined ₹50,000 each. The company was also fined ₹50,000.

The investigation found that forged bills of entry and import documents were submitted to falsely claim the import of textile machinery, enabling the sanction of a nearly ₹2 crore loan. No machinery was actually imported, but funds were disbursed on the basis of fabricated records.

The diverted loan caused a wrongful loss of ₹63.12 lakh to SIDBI, with an equivalent gain to the accused. The CBI registered the case in 2013 and filed a chargesheet in 2014 after establishing criminal conspiracy and misuse of public funds.