CBI raids NDTV’s Prannoy, Radhika Roy over alleged bank fraud

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday searched the office and homes of NDTV news channel promoters Prannoy Roy and his wife Radhika after accusing them of a bank fraud in which they allegedly caused a loss of Rs38 crore to a private bank, an agency official said.

Raids were being conducted at Roy's residence at Greater Kailash-1 in New Delhi and in Dehradun.

The loan was for a corporation named RRPR holdings Pvt Ltd.

The CBI had last week registered a case into alleged irregularities in a 2008 loan that the holding company took from ICICI Bank.

While the premises of NDTV were not raided, the CBI officials searched the office of RRPR Holding, the promoter company of the English and Hindi news channels. Searches were on at four places in Delhi and Dehradun in Uttarakhand.

In a statement, NDTV refuted the claims being made by the CBI and termed the raids ''concerted harassment'' based on ''old, endless false accusations''.

''This morning, the CBI stepped up the concerted harassment of NDTV and its promoters based on the same old endless false accusations. NDTV and its promoters will fight tirelessly against this witch-hunt by multiple agencies. We will not succumb to these attempts to blatantly undermine democracy and free speech in India,'' the NDTV statement said.

Prannoy Roy had founded the TV network with Radhika Roy in 1988.

CBI spokesperson R K Gaur said, ''CBI has registered a case against Prannoy Roy, Radhika Roy, a private company and others for causing an alleged loss to a bank. Searches are being conducted today at four places, including Delhi and Dehradun.''

In the past, the NDTV founder has been accused of receiving irregular promoter funding, in violation of the Reserve Bank of India rules. NDTV was also served a notice by Enforcement Directorate in 2015 for allegedly violating foreign exchange norms involving an amount of Rs2,030 crore.

According to the CBI, the company took a loan of Rs366 crore allegedly on personal guarantees of the promoters and settled for a repayment a year later that was Rs50 crore less than the loaned amount.

The case was registered by the agency's banking fraud division.

The Enforcement Directorate and income tax (I-T) authorities have been investigating NDTV since 2014.

Recently, the Delhi High Court allowed the I-T department to proceed against NDTV in a separate case for receiving funds from a foreign funding institution and settling the account at 80 per cent less than the original amount.

The CBI and ED are also investigating RRPR for funds it received from foreign entities in connection with the Aircel-Maxis case and that of purchase of planes by Air India.