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Pratip Chaudhuri, ex SBI chairman, arrested in loan scam case

The issue involves assets held by Godawan Group, which received a Rs 24 crore loan from SBI in 2008 to build a hotel. 

Pratip Chaudhuri ex SBI chairman arrested in loan scam case gcw
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New Delhi, First Published Nov 1, 2021, 4:23 PM IST

The Jaisalmer police have detained Pratip Chaudhuri, former State Bank of India chairman, in connection with a loan cheating case. According to media reports, he was detained from his Delhi apartment. The issue involves assets held by Godawan Group, which received a Rs 24 crore loan from SBI in 2008 to build a hotel. According to the source, Chaudhuri is accused of selling assets worth Rs 200 crore for Rs 25 crore after the bank confiscated them for defaulting on debts.

According to the police, Godawan Group obtained a Rs 24 crore loan from SBI in 2008 to build a hotel. The group's other hotel was open at this moment. When the group could not repay the loan, the hotel was designated as a non-performing asset, and the bank took both properties while Chaudhuri was Chairman of SBI. The two hotels were later sold for Rs 25 crore to Alchemist ARC. Alok Dhir of Alchemist managed to depart yesterday.

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Alchemist ARC took over the hotels in 2016, and an evaluation conducted in 2017 revealed that the property's market price was Rs 160 crore at the time, and it is now valued at Rs 200 crore. Chaudhuri's term as SBI's 23rd Chairman concluded in September 2013. According to reports, after retiring from SBI, he joined Alchemist ARC as a director.

Chaudhuri and seven others were arrested after the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Jaisalmer issued an arrest warrant. On Monday, Chaudhuri would be transported to Jaisalmer.

In response to the arrest, former SBI Deputy Managing Director Sunil Srivastava went to Twitter to allege that the system was being gamed by defaulters despite all efforts by the Narendra Modi administration and that accountability was needed. He also asked Prime Minister Modi to reform the judicial system. He also questioned Chaudhuri's detention, and asked that how can a police of one state, without notice and without summons, arrest someone in Delhi.

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