Rs.346 Crore Fraud in PNB, Union Bank and Other Banks
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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday carried out searches in Delhi-NCR, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka in connection with a money laundering probe related to an alleged ₹346 crore bank fraud by a Haryana-based power company and its promoters.
The investigation is related to Hythro Power Corporation Ltd (HPCL), a Gurugram-based company, which is now under liquidation, and its directors Amul Gabrani and Ajay Kumar Bishnoi, along with others.
The ED’s case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) is based on a CBI FIR filed in February 2025. The FIR alleges that HPCL’s promoters siphoned off bank loans to related entities, causing heavy losses to banks.
Officials said the ED searched five premises in NCR, three in Chennai, and one in Bengaluru. According to case details, the total fraud amount stands at ₹346.08 crore. As per FIR, several public sector banks and private sector banks have suffered huge loss from the fraud. The bank wise fraud is as follows:
- Punjab National Bank (PNB): ₹168.07 crore
- ICICI Bank: ₹77.81 crore
- Kotak Mahindra Bank: ₹44.49 crore
- Union Bank: ₹55.71 crore
The alleged fraud occurred between 2009 and 2015. HPCL operated in the power transmission and distribution sector, handling design, manufacturing, and turnkey projects for transmission lines. The company had obtained credit facilities worth ₹165.71 crore from PNB and other consortium banks.
Banks tried to save the loan by doing multiple restructurings, including converting invoked guarantees into funded interest term loans, but HPCL still defaulted. It was classified as a Non-Performing Asset (NPA) on March 31, 2015, and later declared a fraud case by the RBI on June 13, 2024.
A forensic audit was done to know the conduct of account and it was revealed that funds were diverted through group firms such as Avadh Transformers, G.E.T. Power, Revolution Infocom, and Tecpro Engg. The audit flagged Fictitious job work contracts, Circular transactions and Unpaid receivables and fake sale invoices.
The ED said these transactions were non-genuine and meant to siphon off funds, eroding creditor interests. HPCL allegedly used related companies to misappropriate assets and conceal defaults.
The investigation is ongoing and more details will be released soon.
