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Ex-Home Trade VP remanded to police custody

Subodh Bhandari, former vice-president of Mumbai-based Home Trade Ltd and an accused in the Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5-billion) gilt scam involving Nagpur District Central Co-operative Bank, was on Monday remanded to police custody till October 5 by a local court.

Bhandari, the seventh accused in the multi-crore gilt scam, was brought from Arthur Road jail in Mumbai and produced in Nagpur before Judicial Magistrate First Class M R Purwar.

Prosecutor Prashant Sathianathan informed the court that Bhandari's custodial interrogation was necessary, as all gilt transactions were signed by the accused in his capacity as director of Home Trade Ltd.

Bhandari, a close associate of Sanjay Agarwal, Home Trade CEO and the brain behind the scam, was working with the broking firm since 1997 and had resigned on January 4, 2002. He had personally visited the city and handed over photocopies of gilt worth Rs 320 crore (Rs 3.2 billion) to the bank, he said.

Stating that CID, investigating the scam, was baffled by the discovery of photocopies of gilts worth Rs 320 crore (Rs 3.2 billion), the official said so far Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) was believed to have been siphoned off in the scam.

The custodial interrogation of Bhandari, who is facing criminal offences under section 406, 409, 467, 468 and 34 IPC, was necessary to ascertain the genuineness of the photocopies, Sathianathan informed the court.

The Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) NDCCB gilt scam was unearthed when the district auditor lodged a complaint with police on April 25.

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