Court extends Hero Gr official's police custody in Citi case

GURGAON: A local court here today extended police remand of Hero Group's senior official Sanjay Gupta by seven days to January 15 in connection with the Rs 300 crore Citibank fraud case.

Gupta, an Assistant Vice-President with Hero Group, allegedly invested about Rs 250 crore belonging to promoters of the Group and other companies through Shivraj Puri, the alleged master mind of the scam.

Police had earlier arrested Gupta under the section 120B of the Indian Panel Code that deals with criminal conspiracy.

It had called Gupta for questioning along with Shivraj Puri, the main accused in the estimated Rs 300 crore fraud discovered at the Citibank's Gurgaon branch.

According to police sources, he received about Rs 20 crore commission from Puri in lieu of the investments he arranged.

Puri, a Relationship Manager with Citibank's Gurgaon branch, used to sell investment products by showing a forged letter of market regulator Sebi with a claim that they would generate very high return of 18 per cent.

Although, the Group has maintained that its flagship firm Hero Honda has no connection with the fraud case, the national capital-based business house is silent on involvement of other BML Munjal-led group entities -- Hero Corporate Services, Rockman Cycles Industries, Hero Mindmine Institute, Easy Bill and Hero Management Service.