Ahmedabad : In a joint operation, the CBI and the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) have arrested three promoters of Vadodara-based Diamond Power Infrastructure Ltd (DPIL), accused of defrauding a consortium of banks of Rs 2,654 crore, officials said on Wednesday.

The three promoters--SN Bhatnagar and his sons Amit and Sumit--were held from a hotel in Udaipur on Tuesday night, they said.

DPIL manufactures electric cables and other electrical equipment.

“The CBI had sought our help in nabbing the Bhatnagar trio. Based on a tip-off that they were hiding in a hotel, a joint team of the Gujarat ATS and the CBI conducted a raid in Udaipur in Rajasthan on Tuesday night and held them,” said a senior ATS official.

The CBI had filed a complaint against the promoters two weeks ago.
The Bhatnagars had remained out of the clutches of the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Income Tax Department despite the agencies conducting raids at the DPIL’s facilities in Vadodara.

According to the CBI, the DPIL had fraudulently availed credit facilities from a consortium of 11 banks (both public and private) from 2008, leading to outstanding debt of Rs 2,654.4 crore as of June 29, 2016.

It was declared a non-performing asset in 2016-17.

The company allegedly submitted false stock statements to the lead bank by treating ‘receivables more than 180 days’ (non-current assets) as ‘less than 180 days’ (current assets) to get more drawing power in the cash credit accounts.

The CBI alleged that the DPIL extensively utilised cash credit limits for obtaining a large number of letters of credit, and many of them could not be honoured by the company and were thus “forced charged” on the credit limit.

Bank of India’s exposure to the company is Rs 670.51 crore, Bank of Baroda’s exposure is Rs 348.99 crore and that of ICICI Bank is Rs 279.46 crore, the CBI FIR said.

Shimla : About 40 houses were gutted and several others were damaged in a devastating fire rendering more than 50 families shelterless at Khasni village in Tikker panchayat in Rohru subdivision of Shimla district, about 125 km from here, in the wee hours of Wednesday.

The fire that broke out around 2 am spread fast and engulfed a large number of houses. The villagers tried to control the fire but dozens of houses were reduced to ashes by the time fire tenders reached the spot.

The fire caused panic among the villagers who stopped the fire from spreading into a cluster of 150 houses and the SDM and DSP Rohru reached the spot along with rescue teams. Fire tenders were rushed from Kotkhai and Rohru and it took more than five hours to bring the fire under control.  

Property worth crores was destroyed in the fierce fire but there was no loss of life and the villagers rushed out of their homes as soon as the fire broke out. The loss is being assessed by the revenue officers and victims have been given immediate relief of Rs 10,000 each besides temporary shelter, ration, clothes and other essential items, said SDM Rohru Babu Ram Sharma.

Villagers said short-circuit could be the cause of fire. However, investigations are on to ascertain the actual cause. The old structures made of wood with beautiful carvings went into flames in no time and massive damage was done by the time fire tenders reached the spot.

Bhopal : At least 21 members of a wedding party were killed after a mini-truck they were travelling in fell into the Son river in Madhya Pradesh’s Sidhi district, an official said on Wednesday.

The accident, in which more than 20 others were injured, occurred late on Tuesday when the driver lost control of the vehicle while crossing the Jogdaha bridge.

The mini-truck crashed through the railing and plunged into the river.

The wedding party was en route to Bahari in Sidhi from Deosar in Singrauli district.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has expressed grief over the incident.

The relief and rescue operations continued through the night. All bodies have been recovered. The injured have been admitted to hospital.

Muzaffarnagar : A 23-year-old college student allegedly committed suicide by jumping in front of a running train in Bijnore district, police said on Tuesday.
Satyam Kumar, who was pursuing the Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS), took the extreme step on Monday due to harassment by his classmates, they said.

The victim had left behind a diary stating the reason behind his action, the police said. 
We are probing the matter, they added.

In another incident, a 28-year-old woman ended life by jumping before a moving train near the Muzaffarnagar Railway Station here on Sunday evening, SHO Harsaran Sharma said.
The victim had not been identified yet, he said, adding that the body had been sent for post-mortem.

Jalandhar : Dalit communities held a protest at Company Bagh Chowk here on Tuesday over the Phagwara shootout incident.
Heavy police force and paramilitary personnel have been deployed around the protest site.
The Dalits are demanding action against more Hindu activists involved in the crime, withdrawal of their arms licences and police security for themselves.