Patira scam accused evade Mumbai police team

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Kolkata, Oct 27: A Mumbai police team is here looking for some prominent stockbrokers and a chartered accountant named in a Rs 300-crore fraud case filed by a Gujarat-based businessman, Mahesh J Patira, promoter of the now-defunct Patira Food Products Pvt Ltd.

Patira and his wife Leena, promoters of Patira Food Products, had filed a criminal complaint in a Mumbai magistrate's court alleging that one Girish Mehta and his associates defrauded them when the Patiras tried to buy a Kolkata-based listed company as part of their expansion plans.

According to the Patiras, they had zeroed in on Western Food Products and made full payment to take control of the company's equity, way back in 1996. But the brokers and merchant bankers entrusted with the deal failed to hand over the shares despite receiving full payment.

In a petition filed before the Calcutta high court in July this year, the Patiras have alleged that, it was only in 2003 that they discovered that two other companies had been merged with Western Food without their knowledge, with minutes of scores of board meetings allegedly forged to show their presence.

A police team from Cuffe Parade, led by Inspector PN Jagtap, reached Kolkata on October 24 with arrest warrants. But, source said, all the accused have so far managed to evade arrest.

"The court has asked us to produce the accused before it and also search their premises, but we have so far failed to locate them," Inspector Jagtap told FE.

Sources in Kolkata Police confirmed that the Mumbai police team is here looking for the stockbrokers and has visited various police stations.

The Patiras have, meanwhile, also petitioned the Calcutta high court to recall the clearance it had given the merger in 2000.