Bank loan fraud: Fish tanks, poultry farms worth Rs 51 crore attached by ED

New Delhi, Jan 1 () Fish tanks, poultry farms and bank balances totalling over Rs 51 crore of a Visakhapatnam-based man and his family have been attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in an alleged bank loan fraud case, the probe agency said on Wednesday.

The assets belong to Kumar Pappu Singh, his family and firms linked to him.

The ED case is based on a CBI FIR filed in Visakhapatnam against IDBI Bank officials, certain loan aggregators and others for fraudulently availing Kisan Credit Card (KCC) loans for fish farming.

The ED alleged that Singh "fraudulently" availed KCC loans in the names of 87 borrowers who were his family members, employees and persons known to him by giving his properties as collateral securities and "misappropriated" the loans.

"The loan amounts were illegally diverted from the bank accounts of the borrowers to the bank accounts of Singh and his companies."

"The total loan amount of Rs 69.46 crore sanctioned to the small farmers was illegally aggregated and diverted by the accused for making personal investments, acquiring properties in his name and in the names of his companies and also for his existing poultry and new fish farming businesses," the agency said in a statement.

A provisional order for attachment of house sites, fish tanks and poultry farms worth Rs 35.70 crore and various bank amounts of Rs 15.73 crore has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The total value of the attached properties is Rs 51.43 crore, it said. NES SMN