The economic offences wing (EOW) of Chennai Police on Friday arrested Ravi Parthasarathy, former chief of crisis-hit Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) in the Rs200 crore cheating and criminal breach of trust case filed by 63 moon technologies ltd. Mr Parthasarathy was presented before the special Tamil Nadu Protection of Interests of Depositors (In Financial Establishments) Act (TNPID) court, which sent him to 15 days judicial custody at Saidapet police jail.
In a statement, the EOW says, "The king pin and the master mind of the Rs1 lakh crore IL&FS scam Ravi Parthasarathy has been arrested by EOW in connection with Crime No.13 of 2020 dated 20 September 2020. The IL&FS group, which consists of more than 350 group companies was used as a vehicle to perpetrate fraud by then management of IL&FS group, which was headed by the then chairman and MD CEO Mr Parthasarathy."
A team was formed under the supervision of R Dinakaran, inspector general of Police (IGP) with the support of deputy superintendent of Police Prakash Babu. On 9 June 2021, Mr Parthasarathy was arrested in Mumbai and brought to Chennai. Earlier, the Madras High Court had dismissed anticipatory bail petition filed by Mr Parthasarathy.
In its complaint, 63 moons had alleged offences of cheating and criminal breach of trust in the repayment of Rs200 crore invested by the company in debentures of IL&FS Transportation Networks India Ltd (ITNL). During 2014 and 2015, ITNL had notified issuance of 1,000 and 2,000 non-convertible debentures with a face value of Rs10 lakh each, aggregating to Rs100 crore and Rs250 crore respectively, on private placement basis.
"To lure investors, ITNL falsely promised guaranteed annual return of up to 11.8% payable half yearly until redemption to its investors against their deposits with ITNL. We relied on the representations and assurances made by the ITNL and key managerial personnel and invested Rs200 crore in debentures," 63 moons had stated in its complaint.
In 2018, IL&FS defaulted on its obligations and ITNL too defaulted in repaying interest on debentures to investors.
Earlier in January this year, the EOW had arrested Ramchand Karunakaran, former managing director, and Hari Sankaran, former vice-chairman, and director of ITNL from Mumbai.
Based on complaint filed by 63 moons, the Chennai EOW had registered a first information report (FIR). The EOW says, it has been receiving complaints from other depositors of ITNL. It has also asked aggrieved depositors and investors of ITNL to forward their claims to the Chennai EOW.
This is the largest ever scam for whom NONE of the political parties accuse each other of perpetrating. Not hard to guess why. Barring Madam Sucheta Dalal and Moneylife, strangely mainstream media doesn't cover ILFS although it set the economy back by few years. Everyone's palms are slippery when it comes to ILFS :)