MUMBAI, May 30: C R Bhansali and six of his family members escaped to Hong Kong only a fortnight ago, according to the joint commissioner of police, Crime, Ranjit Singh Sharma.

He said on Friday that on May 13, Bhansali had booked seven tickets on United Airlines and had flown away to Hong Kong. The crime branch is following this up with the head office of the airlines.

Additional commissioner of police, Crime, S P S Yadav said Bhansali was in Mumbai until the first week of this month and he flew the coop when things became too hot.

The Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai crime branch filed a case against CRB Capital Markets Limited on May 24. So far, over 40 concerns affiliated to it have been identified and their accounts are to be frozen.

Some of the companies, such as CRB Securities, the Shri Bhikshu Foundation, Paras Industries, Ratan Enterprises, Ahram Investments and others, saw it coming and closed their accounts much earlier.

Sharma also dispatched some raiding parties to eight of Bhansali's properties and flats in Dhobi Talao, Andheri, and Tardeo this afternoon.

They were to seal the flats and seize three of his cars. The crime branch will also be cancelling Bhansali's broker's card of the Bombay Stock Exchange which is worth Rs 2.5 crore.

SIT set up for CRB probeFollowing directives from the United Front government, the Central Bureau of Investigation today set up a high-level Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe into the Rs 1000 crore CRB Capital Markets scam.

Headed by Deputy Inspector General Arup Patnaik the team comprise officials from the Maharashtra Police, Reserve Bank of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India, Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate. This was disclosed by CBI Director Joginder Singh after a prolonged meet with Director General of Police A S Samra and officials of leading financial institutions.

``The SIT will probe into all the aspects of the multi-crore scandal and submit the report to me within a month,'' Singh said. His visit follows Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde's request to the Centre to deploy the CBI to probe into the involvement of prominent persons from financial sector. Munde met officials of the RBI and other financial institutions on Thursday. Subsequently, Munde had urged Finance Minister P Chidambaram to freeze the accounts of all the hundred-odd companies floated by Bhansali and appoint official liquidators on all these companies.

Replying to a question, Singh said if there was a need, he will not hesitate to seek cooperation from the International Police Organisation to trace Bhansali, if he had fled abroad.

``But once you seek the assistance of the Interpol one has seek extradition from the concerned countries,'' he added.

The CBI chief was non-committal about the arrest of Bhansali, ``Give us some time. I will not talk of arrest now.'' He assured of an honest, impartial and thorough investigations in all respects.

He said the liabilities of the CRB Capital Markets include Rs 133 crore to banks, Rs six crores to Unit Trust of India, Rs 120 crore to the Gujarat government, Rs 100 crore to corporates (borrowed as inter-corporate deposits), Rs 229 crore through CRB mutual fund, Rs 186 crore to individual depositors and Rs 257.99 crore raised through public issues.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.