Custody of Ratul Puri extended by 4 more days

New Delhi : A Delhi court on Friday extended by four days the custodial interrogation of Ratul Puri, nephew of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, by the Enforcement Directorate in the money laundering case related to a bank loan fraud.

Special judge Sanjay Garg passed the order on the ED's plea. ED had arrested Puri on August 20 in the money laundering case arising out of the bank loan fraud case. The court had on August 26 extended Puri's ED custody by four days.

There is another money laundering case connected with the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam in which the Delhi High Court had earlier dismissed his anticipatory bail plea, saying his custodial interrogation was "required for an effective investigation".

Puri was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the bank fraud case after he appeared before the central probe agency here in the chopper scam after it had slapped a fresh criminal case against him and others, taking cognisance of a CBI FIR.

The latest PMLA case emerged from a CBI FIR of August 17, where Ratul Puri, his father Deepak Puri, mother Nita (Nath's sister) and others were booked in connection with Rs 354 crore bank fraud case filed by the Central Bank of India.

The CBI had carried out multiple searches in pursuance of this FIR. The Puri family, other individuals like Sanjay Jain and Vineet Sharma were booked by the CBI for alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and corruption. Ratul Puri was booked in this case in his capacity as executive director of Moser Baer India Limited (MBIL), a firm promoted by his father Deepak Puri.

The company manufactured optical storage media like compact discs, DVDs, solid state storage devices. Ratul Puri had resigned from the post of executive director in 2012, while his parents continue to be on the board, the bank had said in a statement and compliant to the CBI.