Lucknow, Oct 20 Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Vinay Shankar Tiwari, who faced a CBI raid, issued a statement on Tuesday, claiming that the action was 'politically motivated and he was paying the price for being a Brahmin'.
The CBI conducted raids on the premises of firms owned by Tiwari on Monday.
In a Facebook post, Tiwari wrote that he was paying the price of being a Brahmin. "Earlier too, the government had raided our house 'Tiwari Hata' in Gorakhpur," he said.
He admitted that he owed 'around Rs 600 crore' to the bank, but the government also owed him Rs 700-800 crores. "The government is using the CBI to victimise me and the Central agencies are being used to muzzle the voices of opposition," he stated.
Tiwari is a BSP MLA and a son of erstwhile politician Hari Shankar Tiwari, who wields a considerable influence in eastern Uttar Pradesh. He represents the Chillupar Assembly seat.
The CBI has booked Tiwari and his wife Rita Tiwari in connection with an alleged bank fraud to the tune of Rs 754.25 crore involving a company, after carrying out searches at several locations in Lucknow and Noida, officials said.
The CBI case is based on a complaint by the Bank of India against two private companies Gangotri Enterprises and Royal Marketing Pvt Ltd based in Lucknow and Noida, its directors and other unknown persons on allegations of committing misappropriation, cheating and causing a loss of Rs 754.24 crore to a consortium of banks.
A CBI official said multiple CBI teams started a search operation at the premises of Tiwari's firm Gangotri Enterprises in Lucknow and his residential premises.
The MLA and his wife are second-largest shareholders of the company.
The searches were also spread out in Noida at the premises of another accused company, Royal Empire Marketing Pvt. Ltd., and an accused director in the Gangotri Enterprises, Ajit Pandey, a CBI official said.
It has been alleged that the directors of the Gangotri Enterprises had misappropriated bank funds and diverted them for purposes other than for which the loan was taken.
The official said that it was alleged that the Gangotri Enterprises having its corporate office in the Mahanagar area in Lucknow was engaged in the construction of roads, bridges, flyovers, etc.
He said it was further alleged that the company availed credit facilities from a consortium of banks led by the Bank of India from time to time.
It was also alleged that the company was supposed to route all its transactions through the trust and retention account and the company was not doing the same, the official said.
During the searches, several incriminating documents were seized, the official said.
( With inputs from IANS )
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