Vikram Kothari finds himself stands accused of a bank loan default to the tune of thousands of crores.
Multi-core loan default accused and promoter of Rotomac Group 73-year-old Vikram Kothari died in a freak accident at his Kanpur residence on Tuesday morning. According to reports, the erstwhile stationery czar sustained grievous head injuries after slipping in his bathroom and later succumbed to his injuries. He was reportedly alone at his Tilak Nagar residence at the time of the incident. Vikram, also known as 'India's Pen King', was accused in a bank loan scam worth thousands of crores pertaining to Rotomac Global, which exported writing instruments overseas.
The CBI has initiated the action on the complaint of Bank of Baroda, which was a member of consortium led by Bank of India, which had approached the agency fearing that Kothari may flee the country like Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi.
If there is a morality tale here, it is that debt and death spare no king.
Vikram Kothari, managing director of Rotomac Pens, is now fighting a battle that might be difficult to win.
According to a complaint from Bank of Baroda, the conspirators allegedly cheated a consortium of bank loans of Rs 3,695 crore. The scam was earlier estimated at around Rs 800 crore.
Vikram Kothari's Rotomac stares at a loan default of Rs 369 crore
Vikram Kothari took a loan of Rs 485 crore from Mumbai-based Union Bank of India and a loan of Rs 352 crore from Kolkata-based Allahabad Bank. A year later, Kothari has reportedly not paid back either the interest or the loan.
According to the RTI reply, absconding diamantaire Choksi's company Gitanjali Gems tops the list of the defaulters with a whopping amount of Rs 5,492 crore. This is followed by REI Agro with Rs 4,314 crore and Winsome Diamonds with Rs 4,076 crore. Rotomac Global Private Limited has funded advances of Rs 2,850 crore which have been technically written off and Kudos Chemie Ltd with Rs 2,326 crore, Ruchi Soya Industries Limited, now owned by Ramdev's Patanjali, with Rs 2,212 crore and Zoom Developers Pvt Ltd with Rs 2,012 crore being the other companies to default on the payment. Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines figures in the list at number 9, with outstanding of Rs 1943 crore which have been technically written off by the banks.
'All governments try owning the message, but the Modi-Shah BJP has developed it into a fine art.'
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