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CBI closes 2017 probe against NDTV founders Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy

Oct 01, 2024 07:22 PM IST

CBI said it didn’t find any legally tenable evidence to suggest that NDTV and its then promoters caused loss to the bank in settlement of loan taken in 2009.

Seven years after it launched an investigation and raids against NDTV founders, Prannoy Roy and his wife Radhika Roy, for allegedly causing a loss of 48 crore to the ICICI Bank, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday closed the case citing lack of sufficient material to go ahead with the probe, people familiar with the development said on Tuesday.

Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy (File Photo)
Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy (File Photo)

The anti-corruption agency “didn’t find any legally tenable evidence to suggest that NDTV and its then promoters caused loss to the bank in settlement of loan taken in 2009”, said an official, who didn’t want to be named.

In its first information report (FIR) filed in June 2017, CBI had named Roy, his wife Radhika and a private company linked to NDTV – RRPR Holding Pvt Ltd – among others for criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal misconduct under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

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Filed on a complaint from an individual, Sanjay Dutt, of Delhi based firm - Quantum Securities Ltd, the CBI FIR alleged that RRPR Holdings Pvt Ltd, associated with the Roys, had taken a 500-crore loan from India Bulls Pvt Limited to acquire a 20%stake in NDTV through a public open offer.

RRPR Holdings also took out a 375 crore loan (with 350 crore disbursed) from ICICI Bank at an interest rate of 19 per cent per annum to repay the loan from India Bulls, it stated.

The FIR further alleged that the Roys pledged their entire shareholding as collateral for this loan, failing to report the pledging to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), stock exchanges, or the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Within a year, ICICI settled for foreclosure of the loan, agreeing to a part-waiver of interest that allegedly resulted in a loss of 48 crores for the bank, the agency claimed.

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Dutt, in his complaint to the CBI, had accused ICICI Bank of “conniving, committing fraud and entering into conspiracy” with the promoters of NDTV in facilitating transfer of ownership of a news broadcasting company to a “shell” company in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, SEBI Act, ministry of information and broadcasting regulations and norms of the ministry of home affairs for news media companies.

The complainant urged the CBI to investigate who is the true owner of NDTV and the role played by ICICI Bank in “facilitating the clandestine change of control.”

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CBI is probing Roys in another case filed in 2019 for allegedly violating foreign direct investment (FDI) rules in a 2007-2009 investment. It was alleged that a company incorporated by NDTV in London received total FDI worth USD 163.43 million and invested the amount in various NDTV subsidiaries through a web of complex transactions. The investigation into this particular case is continuing.

In December 2022, Gautam Adani’s conglomerate – Adani Group – became the largest shareholder in NDTV through an open offer.

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