A fortnight after issuing a lookout notice against Surendra Hiranandani, a director of Hiranandani Group, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the special CBI court that he should be declared an absconder for failing to act upon the notice so far. Hiranandani Group directors Niranjan and Surendra were accused of having a role in a Rs 9-crore Employees Provident Fund (EPF) scam.
?Surendra is still absconding. He hasn’t even communicated his return to the CBI. We are trying to carry the investigation ahead but the accused is not cooperating with the agency,? CBI prosecutor B B Badami told the court. The CBI also pressed for the duo’s custody for further investigation.
Niranjan had returned to India immediately after the lookout notice was served.
Hiranandanis? counsel Harshad Ponda contended that the two were not directly involved in the case. ?As many as 48 staff, whose PF has not been paid, are not directly employed by the group but by contractors. The CBI should be questioning the contractor.?
The CBI also submitted statements of 14 witnesses in a sealed envelope in the court on Friday. ?We have recorded statements of important witnesses in the case under section 164 of the CrPC,? Badami told the court.
According to the defence counsel, both the brothers have been in constant touch with the CBI and have even been to the agency’s office several times for interrogation. Apart from the two directors, two employees of the group– Joseph Reddy, general manager, and Cyrus Pithawala– and four EPFO officials have also named as accused. Reddy and Pithawala were granted anticipatory bail by the court last month.